Repercussions of a Wish
by exocara
Summary: "If you could choose between a world where people would love you at first sight, and continue to fall in love with you even more as they get to know you; or a world where it is totally and utterly acceptable for you, and only you, to punch anyone in the face, anytime, anywhere, which would you choose?" University AU (?), All27, drabble and one-shot series. Tsuna-centric
1. Backgrounds and Prologues

**Warning: **This is going to be a bunch of drabbles/one-shots that are interconnected. Probably in a chronological order unless stated otherwise. This is not serious, and mindless self-indulgence on my part. **Read the author's note at the bottom please.** **  
**

* * *

**The Choice He Made  
**

* * *

It didn't start out as a wish. Really. If one were to ask Sawada Tsunayoshi, he would adamantly insist that it had started out as a simple question asked out of honest curiosity. If he had known that it would come true, he never would've said anything.

It happened when he was seven. Due to the bullies that chased after him almost every day, Tsuna often found himself hiding in many obscure places. One of the places he preferred to hide in would be Kawahira's Antiques. Kawahira's Antiques was an antique shop conveniently situated close to the school compound, but out of the way enough that people would rarely ever think to look there. The owner of the store, Kawahira, was a nice man who was fond of young Tsuna and often helped him with his homework whenever the latter was hiding.

One day, while they were going through English, Kawahira suddenly asked Tsuna a question.

_"If you could choose between a world where people would love you at first sight, and continue to fall in love with you even more as they get to know you; or a world where it is totally and utterly acceptable for you, and only you, to punch anyone in the face, anytime, anywhere, which would you choose?"_

Understandably, it was a hard decision to make. However, for the Tsuna who was young and naive and _dame_ and wanted so desperately to fit in, there was only one answer.

_"I would choose-"_

* * *

**Growing** **Up**

* * *

The years passed and Kawahira's question faded from his mind. Tsuna continued to be small and bullied and hopeless.

However, through all the name calling and the people stamping down on his soul, something within him changed; or you could say evolved.

And he grew up.

Well, people do say that those who have been pressed down and shattered by others, but still manage to rebuild themselves and continue on, stronger than ever, are the scariest type of people.

* * *

**Higher Education**

* * *

Well, Tsuna never really got to be the giant robot he had wanted to be when he was younger, but he did find a new dream. Or rather, a goal in life he could work towards.

Sawada Nana's cooking was really on another level. If one were to rate her cooking on a scale from one to ten, it would be over nine thousand. Many have tried to discover her secret, but none have succeeded. Only her son, Tsuna, knew her secret.

_"Tsu-kun! The most important thing you need when making anything is your emotions. Pour your feelings into whatever you do! Just like how I pour my love into the food I cook, because I love my Tsu-kun soooo much!"_

When he was eleven, he realised that not everyone was as fortunate as him to have been able to taste such heavenly cooking. Cooking that brought happiness to whoever who ate it, and filled them with affection.

When he was eleven, Tsuna realised that he wanted everyone to experience Sawada Nana's delicious, home-cooked food. Food that was filled with love.

Tsuna was clumsy, and didn't have book smarts, and was no good, but he had a goal that motivated him. A goal that he would achieve with his dying will.

At eighteen years old, Sawada Tsunayoshi was accepted into the prestigious, international Trinisette university, and took up a course in baking and culinary science.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Please please read this. thanks friend. i'll try to make this fast.

This is self-indulgent. I will write even if you don't want me to. This is also stress relief because I'm facing writer's block in my other two khr stories and I really need a place to get all the irritating plot bunny things out. _Incredibly_ sporadic update timing.

Kinda crack, maybe. It's not serious. It'll go wherever it wants to go. A bit like my Harry Potter story. (one-sided?) **All27.** All. AU as well. Will include: Shimon, Millefore, Arcobaleno, Primo generation, Varia, maybe more. Also I really cannot bash any characters to save my life so there will be no fully bad people (aka daemon will be as nice as daemon can be. elena's alive because i love her too much)

Kawahira's probably not human. Tsuna's still Tsuna. Main difference: he has drive in his life and he knows what he wants. He has resolve.

Thanks for whoever made it this far. (i am trash, i know.)


	2. Setting the Stage

**Resolve**

* * *

Tsuna set down his bags and looked around at his dorm room. It seemed that he would be having this place all to himself. While he didn't expect this, he wasn't very surprised. Trinisette university was catered towards the needs of the rich, after all. A large part of the student population was made up of heirs or people with the right connections, after all. Tsuna was one of the few lucky people that managed to get in on a scholarship.

Actually no, it wasn't luck. It was hard work and Tsuna shouldn't downplay himself like that.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

_Confidence._

He needed it if he wanted to achieve his dream.

Tsuna's eyes snapped open and flashed orange for a fraction of a second.

Of course, no one was there to see it.

* * *

**Pick Up Lines | 6927  
**

* * *

If there was one downside in studying in an international university, it would be the spoken language. Since English was one of the most influencial languages in the world, it was used in the university.

It was too bad that Tsuna was rubbish at it. He _was_ trying his best, though, so that had to count for something. Also, the tutoring sessions with Kawahira were rather helpful to him. It was almost as if Kawahira had known he would be coming to Trinisette university, and was preparing him for it. Of course, that was probably impossible.

Well, as it was, while he had a rough understanding of the English language, he still had absolutely no knowledge about the other languages. This was rather inconvenient, seeing as he was studying in an international school, and not all students would be willing to speak English outside of class. Tsuna couldn't blame them.

"_Scusami, mi ero perso nei tuoi occhi._" A young man, probably older than Tsuna, was smiling down at him. Although the smile seemed harmless, there was something about the man that seemed a little... off.

It was probably the hair, though. Who in their right mind would have hair that looked like a pineapple?

"S-sorry, I do not speak. Do not understand your speech. You know Japan language?" Tsuna replied in English, trying his best to choose the right words to use. The boy tilted his head to the side, seemingly unable to understand Tsuna's words. His hetero-chromatic eyes flashed with amusement.

"_Posso offrirti da bere?_" the young man continued speaking, totally disregarding what Tsuna had said. Tsuna wrinkled his nose in slight frustration. What language was the guy speaking, anyway?

Two hands cupped his cheeks and smoothed out the wrinkles on Tsuna's face. The poor brunette's brain short-circuited immediately. "_Nel cielo manca un angelo?_" The young man leaned in a little. "_Perché-_"

"Mukuro!" a voice suddenly called out, startling Tsuna's brain out of it's little blue-screen-of-death moment. Upon regaining his senses, Tsuna easily brushed off the young man's hands and took a step back. The young man clucked his tongue in annoyance and turned back to answer his friend. In perfect, unaccented English. Tsuna blanked out again. There was a strange feeling building up in him, a feeling that he hadn't felt in a long time.

The young man - Mukuro? - turned back to him with a smile. "It's a pity we had to cut our conversation short. I hope we can meet again, _coniglietto_." And with that, he was gone. In the back of his mind, he found it rather unfair that the young man knew how to speak perfect Japanese as well. The feeling within him grew and he could feel his cheeks heating up.

_Ah. He finally got it. That feeling... _

_...was anger._

* * *

**translations**

_Scusami, mi ero perso nei tuoi occhi._ \- Sorry, I was lost in your eyes.

__Posso offrirti da bere?_ \- _May I buy you a drink?_  
_

__Nel cielo manca un angelo?_ \- _Is heaven missing an angel?_  
_

__Perché_ \- _Because

* * *

**Dreams and Premonitions  
**

* * *

_"Oh? Well, while that wasn't a very surprising choice, I would like to hear the reasoning behind it, Tsunayoshi-kun." Kawahira smiled gently at the young boy sitting on the other side of the table. Tsuna shrugged. _

_"You said that I _had_ to choose one. I don't like hurting other people, so I definitely can't choose to punch people. Not to mention, punching people is mean! I don't like it when people punch me..." Tsuna trailed off, rubbing at a bruise on his cheek. "So, I can only choose the first option, right? As long as they are loving me for who I am, and not because of a spell or anything, I don't see why that's so bad! Mamma says that being in love makes people happy, so if I can make them happy..." He trailed off again and shrugged, going back to stare at his English homework hopelessly. Kawahira stared at the boy's small form for a moment, at a lost for words. And then, he started laughing. _

_"Well, this is certainly a strange turn of events. I have to admit, I wasn't quite expecting that answer, Tsunayoshi-kun. Very well then, I shall grant your wish." _

_Tsuna stared at Kawahira, a confused expression plastered on his face. "Wish? What wish?" _

_Kawahira didn't answer him. _

Tsuna's eyes snapped open, and he flinched at the light from the sun that decided to sear itself onto his cornea. He had dreamt a really strange dream last night, or rather, he had recalled a strange memory. It had been a while since he had last talked to Kawahira, seeing that the strange man had moved away when he was eight. Why would he suddenly dream about him now, of all times? And why that particular conversation?

Tsuna thought about it for a while before deciding to shove it to the back of his mind. It probably wasn't important anyway.

Right?

* * *

**Author's note**

the reason why i wrote in italian instead of english is because whatever mukuro said wasn't very relevant in the situation. it doesn't make much of a difference if you know it or not.

the italian is from my own meager knowledge. Please tell me if I have made any mistakes.

i wonder who i will write about next


	3. Oh God Why

**Raining Men | G27  
**

* * *

Trinisette university, Tsuna soon found out, was a fairly dangerous place.

Case in point: This morning, when he was walking past the School of Business, he suddenly got an inexplicable urge to stop in his tracks to smell the flowers. It turned out to be the right thing to do because there was a blur of black and gold, and a person literally slammed into the ground before him. If he hadn't paused for a moment, that person would have fell onto him. Painfully.

He crouched down beside the body and pushed it over, so he could see the person's face. And paused.

_Why does this person look similar to me?_

Well, the guy had blonde hair, more mature features, and was overall a _lot_ taller, but the features were undeniably familiar.

Just as he was about to shake the person to wake him up, another person fell out of the air and landed in front of Tsuna, on the other side of the body. Tsuna stared at impeccably polished black leather shoes for all of two seconds before slowly dragging his eyes up the person's body. A terrifying man with platinum blonde hair and cold blue eyes stared down at him and the body with disdain, his black trench coat billowing ominously in the nonexistent wind.

_Oh god why.  
_

Tsuna forced out a shy, hesitant smile and the man's eyes widened slightly. Without warning, he turned a hundred and eighty degrees and walked off, black trench coat still billowing. Tsuna licked his finger and held it up. Nope, still no wind.

Tsuna's eyes flickered back to the person on the ground. What did the emergency manual thing say he should do again? Check for breathing? Yeah, that sounded right. Tsuna nodded to himself and leaned in close to the person's face, when suddenly, orange eyes snapped open. The two of them stared at each other and a bout of awkward silence filled the area. The person on lying on the ground was the first to move, lifting up his arm to cup Tsuna's face.

"_Am I in heaven?_" he muttered in a foreign language. Tsuna couldn't comprehend it and unconsciously tilted his head to the side in confusion, unaware that it seemed that he was leaning into the other person's touch.

And then the other person leaned up and kissed Tsuna right on the mouth.

_"Hiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeee!"_

* * *

**Part-time Job | R27  
**

* * *

Tsuna worked part-time in a small cafe on campus for several reasons. One of which was to gain experience, and boy, did he gain experience.

He had learnt that people demanded fast but quality coffee, and were often unwilling to wait for more than thirty seconds for their coffee, even if their order was ridiculously if they came during the morning shift. Thankfully, they had more than two coffee machines in the store. Unfortunately, if the customer requested it, they still had to grind the coffee beans themselves.

While working, Tsuna couldn't help but notice this particular customer that always seemed to show up and hour after his shifts started. And he always ordered the same thing: double long shot espresso, no sugar, using a french press. He would know, too, seeing that he would sit near the counter and stare at Tsuna with an unnerving intensity as he made the drink. The first time Tsuna met him, he almost cried, thinking that the tall man with the black fedora was picking on him. His coworker was quick to reassure him that it wasn't the case, and that the customer was just very particular about his coffee being made right ever since the day a new, inexperienced barista had tried to cheat and used the machine to make his coffee.

He was never seen again.

Obviously, Tsuna didn't feel very much reassured after that tale, and made sure to put in extra effort into making the man's coffee. He didn't think too much on the fact that the man basically came in an hour after his shifts started like clockwork. Not until the day Tsuna decided to take the day off work due to overwhelming homework which he could not understand because they were in _freakin' mix of English and Italian_!

Why he decided to take the elective European culinary practicum, he would never know. He already had trouble with English, much less other languages.

But back to the point. There he was, sitting at his desk, staring at his notes whilst hoping information would seep in through osmosis, when the door suddenly swung open with a loud _bang_. Tsuna let out his trademark shriek and jolted out of his chair.

"You weren't at the cafe," a low male voice said. Tsuna slowly stood up, rubbing his head as he stared at the intruder with a mix of shock, horror, and annoyance. The man seemed to take Tsuna's dumbfounded silence as confusion, so he elaborated. "You always clock in at nine in the morning on Thursdays. You didn't do so this morning, though."

"Did you barge into my room just to ask why I didn't go to work?" Tsuna asked incredulously once he had found his voice again. The man tilted his fedora downwards, casting a darker shadow over his eyes. Tsuna took that as a yes. "Oh god. I am _not_ the only barista in the entire cafe, sir. You can ask another barista to make your coffee!"

"I did," the man said dully. "It didn't match up to yours." He started walking towards Tsuna with long strides. Tsuna shuffled backwards until his back hit the wall. The man stopped in front of him, so close that he could feel him exhale on his face. "It seems that I can only be satisfied by your coffee now, Sawada Tsunayoshi. Please take responsibility." Black eyes stared intently into brown ones, and Tsuna couldn't help but feel that the man was talking about something else entirely.

A few minutes passed and Tsuna looked away, pushing at the man's chest. "Alright, I'll go make coffee for you, but only for today." He walked towards the pantry and looked through the shelves. "I've only got pour-over coffee though." Silence. Tsuna assumed that the stranger would be alright with that. As he took out the coffee beans and started to grind them, he wondered why he was being so accommodating to the intruder in his dorm room. It was probably because he still had that unconscious fear of him lingering at the back of his mind. Hopefully, after this, Tsuna would never have to see the guy outside of work hours ever again.

A minute passed and the silence was so thick he could almost feel it on his skin.

"How do you know my name?" he asked, breaking the silence.

"I am a very well-informed individual." Tsuna frowned in annoyance. He didn't answer the question.

"What's your name?"

"Reborn."

_Okay, that _can't_ be a real name._

Tsuna sighed and decided to shut up. The man - Reborn - didn't seem to want to make conversation, anyway.

Finally, the coffee was done and Tsuna served it to Reborn before going back to his notes, resolutely ignoring the uninvited guest in his house.

"I see that you're having trouble with Italian." Reborn suddenly spoke, making him jump once again. Tsuna whirled around, staring at Reborn with wide, startled eyes.

"Y-you. How did you know?"

Reborn didn't answer, merely taking a sip from his coffee. "I can teach you, you know."

"What?"

"'I can teach you Italian and many other languages," Reborn offered. Tsuna stared at him suspiciously.

"What's in it for you?" he asked, narrowing his eyes. Reborn smirked and tilted his head towards the pot of coffee Tsuna had made.

"Free flow of coffee whenever I come over, of course."

Tsuna bit his bottom lip in thought, not noticing that Reborn's onyx eyes flickering to it and darkening. The arrangement didn't seem so bad, actually. Having to put up with the guy in exchange for being one step closer to his dream... Well, the choice was obvious.

"Sure, I don't see why not."

At Reborn's dark almost-grin, Tsuna couldn't help but wonder if he had made the right decision.

* * *

**Author's note**

I did not expect people to actually follow this. Well. I'm at a lost for words. Thank you.

coffee knowledge from some blog posts and from working in a cafe a little. i dont have a lot of knowledge though, so if you see anything weird please tell me.

(makes strange choking noise) is reborn's name seriously reborn. seriously.

**Reviews**

_hikaru_ \- he wouldn't know what to do with the world. probably give it to his mum or something. (tbh he wouldn't know what he would do with his harem either)


	4. First Friend (?)

**Proposal | 0027  
**

* * *

It had been a while since Tsuna last witnessed bullying. Of course, all of the bullying he had witnessed was his own, but he didn't really want to go deep into details. Still, he was under the impression that people his age would have at least long outgrown physical bullying.

Which was why he was equal parts shocked and disgusted when he walked in on a scene of a bunch of idiots kicking a downed male with scarlet hair. It hit a little too close to home, and brought back memories of pain and hurt and fear. Memories that he would rather forget.

In a bout of anger, Tsuna decided to do something incredibly reckless. Loosening his grip on his bag, Tsuna threw it at the bullies with all his force. While he wasn't very strong, the bag had three thick textbooks' worth of weight in it, and easily knocked out one of the idiots in one hit.

"Get away from him!" Tsuna yelled, "Or I'll... I'll... I'll bite you!" Alright, so that was a rubbish threat, but he really couldn't think of anything else, though. Somehow, upon hearing the threat, the bullies paled dramatically and sprinted off. Huh. That was funny.

A groan brought Tsuna's attention back to the person lying on the ground. Well, he couldn't just leave him there, could he?

* * *

When Enma drifted back into consciousness, he identified himself to be in one of the dorm rooms. A dorm room that wasn't his own. He tensed up. Where was he? Who brought him here? What did they want? He tried to sit up and realised that his wounds had been patched up. Not very well, but someone actually took the time and effort to bandage him.

"Hello. Do you speak Japanese?" Enma blinked and turned to his side to see a petite brunette with large, innocent eyes smiling at him. Oh no. He's cute.

_Conceal. Don't feel._

Enma nodded at the brunette's question and was treated to the sight of him breaking into a big, beautiful smile. "Ah, that's great!" he had switched to Japanese, "I was going to die if I had to speak any more English. I'm really rubbish at that language." He let out a sheepish laugh. "Oh, by the way, my name's Sawada Tsunayoshi. What's yours?"

"Enma Kozato. I mean, Kozato Enma," he stuttered out. Tsuna tilted his head to the side, still smiling slightly.

"Kozato-san, would you like to stay for dinner? I made too much for one person to eat and, besides, it's already seven." For some reason, Enma felt like he couldn't say no. It could be due to the pleading smile on his face, or it could be due to the strange glint in his eye. Either way, Enma stayed for dinner.

* * *

"So, Kozato-san, how's the food?" Alright, Enma was genuinely apprehensive of the look in Tsuna's eyes whenever he talked about the food he cooked. There was a strange, almost maniac gleam, and, sometimes, might even flash orange. Of course, it must have been a figment of Enma's imagination, but still.

"Um. Well. I think the food's really good," Enma told him. It was true; the food Tsuna cooked really couldn't be compared to anything he had ever eaten before, not even in those expensive restaurants his older cousin dragged him to. Of course, the quality wasn't very magnificent, but there was something _there_ that the other dishes were lacking. "It's been a while since I've had home-cooked food."

"Hm? Why is that so?" Tsuna asked, doing that adorable little head tilt again. Enma tried to ignore it.

"Ah, my parents died a long time ago, so I moved in with my cousin. Both he and I can't cook, so yeah..."

Tsuna looked absolutely insulted.

"Well, if that's the case, I'll cook for you every day if I can!" Tsuna's eyes shone orange for a moment before he blinked and shrunk into himself, blushing a little. "I mean. If you're okay with it. I like cooking for other people," he continued, trying to justify himself. Enma was blushing as well as he stared down at his hands. If he wasn't wrong, wasn't this a sort of marriage proposal? He knew that it had something to do with cooking for the other person every day...

Well, Tsuna probably didn't mean it in that way but, as Enma stole a glance at Tsuna, he couldn't help but think that he wouldn't mind having Tsuna as his wife.

* * *

**Height**

* * *

"Kozato-kun, how do you eat so much junk food yet grow to be that tall?"

"What do you mean, Sawada-kun? We're the same height, if I'm not mistaken."

Tsuna brought out a cap and put it on his head. Enma stared, dumbfounded and speechless.

"You probably don't know this but my hair contributes to around ten centimetres of my height." He took the hat back off and the world was right again.

Enma was still at a lost for words.

* * *

**Father**

* * *

When Tsuna first got the news that he had gotten into Trinisette university, his mother was ecstatic. She hurried went to call his father to tell him about the good news. If you asked Tsuna, she was really just wasting her time. And sure enough, Nana wasn't able to contact Iemitsu. Tsuna was neither surprised nor disappointed, taking in the news with a totally emotionless, uncaring face.

A week later, when Iemitsu called to congratulate him, Tsuna didn't yell or shout. He merely took his father's words with polite thanks, but otherwise didn't say anything else as his father babbled a million words per minutes about his darling little son growing up and Iemitsu not being there to see it.

Tsuna didn't feel any bitterness about his words.

Perhaps Iemitsu had sensed something wrong because he paused in his word vomit, before hesitantly asking if Tsuna hated him for not being there with him. Tsuna was quiet for a moment as he pondered over his father's question, and finally came to an answer.

"I've never hated you."

At this, Iemitsu sighed in relief and continued talking. What Tsuna said was the truth, after all. Iemitsu could tell as much.

What he didn't know was that Tsuna had long stopped loving him. He didn't have any expectations, nor did he have any faith in his father. And that, in itself, is scarier than hate.

* * *

**Author's note**

take it just take it

there is an EXTREME lack of 0027 in the entire web. does anyone know any non sad ones?

The Japanese proposal is supposed to be the man asking "will you make miso soup for me every day?" It's probably not very widely used in today's context but eh.

ten centimetres is around 3.94 inches yo.

**Reviews**

_Harmonic Bunny_ \- I think it's addicting because Tsuna's cute and deserves all the love in the world. And yeah, the R27 and G27 parts are separate. Giotto wasn't in his HDW form. Someone told me he has light orange eyes out of HDW form so I'm just rolling with it. (insert smiley face here) The wiki says that too.

_hikaru_ \- i think i might have hibari in the next chapter but i'm not so sure. what i'm sure is that i want their first official meeting to include tsuna smacking hibari on the head with a slipper.


	5. Dino, Tsuna, and Coffee

**By the Evening Skies | D27**

* * *

If you asked Tsuna, it was coincidence.

If you asked Dino, it was fate.

If you asked Tsuna's manager, it was hilarious.

* * *

It happened on a Friday afternoon. Business was slow and, hence, Tsuna's coworker decided to go for a _very_ long toilet break, leaving Tsuna to man the counter on his own.

Dino came into the cafe, a whirlwind of mess, loose papers and scattering stationery, causing Tsuna to despair at the state of the floor he had recently swept. At the side Tsuna manager gave him a calculating look before smirking and pushing him towards the blonde on the floor. With a sigh of irritation, Tsuna did as his manager "suggested" and went around the counter to kneel down and help Dino pick up his things.

Their hands brushed and both of them looked up. Illuminated by the beautiful red of the setting sun, Tsuna gave Dino an awkward (breathtaking) smile.

* * *

Dino was in love.

Tsuna didn't notice; or rather, he didn't care enough to notice.

Tsuna's manager was just happy that there was another regular paying customer at the cafe.

* * *

**Part-time Job 2 | D27  
**

* * *

"Fluffy human," Tsuna's manager called out upon entering the employee room, startling him out of his daydreaming. He scrambled to stand up from his seat.

"Manager! Is there a problem?" he asked. The manager shrugged and gestured to the door.

"One of your suitors are here. Pretty sure he won't accept coffee from anyone else. Go out and tend to him; I'll extend your break for another fifteen minutes." Tsuna nodded at their words, although he didn't really understand the meaning of 'suitors', and scurried out. He never really felt comfortable being alone with them.

* * *

When he came out, his coworker was already brewing the coffee for an extremely dejected blonde man. Tsuna's eye twitched, but somehow he managed to refrain from screaming at his manager. Just as he was about to leave, the blonde caught sight of Tsuna and immediately, his face brightened. Tsuna winced. Well, there was no going back now. Plastering his 'customer smile' on his face, he walked towards the counter.

"Hello!" the blonde greeted him brightly.

"Hello... Dino?" Tsuna vaguely remembered catching sight of his name when he was helping him pick up his notes the other day. Upon hearing his name, Dino's smile became infinitely brighter, and Tsuna fought the urge to shield his eyes. One thing's for sure: his manager was right. Customers _do_ liked haing their names remembered.

"Ah! You remembered my name. Um. What's yours?" Dino asked. Tsuna pointed at his name tag and Dino blushed. "O-oh. Of course. Tsuna..." He repeated the name again under his breath. Tsuna was a little weirded out and desperately wracked his mind to see if he could find any other topic to talk about. His mind drifted to the night before, when one of his neighbours had invited his friends over to watch the Formula One Grand Prix live. Unfortunately, it was around two in the morning and, hence, no one on that level got much sleep.

"Do you watch F1?" Tsuna asked. Dino blinked, and looked at the ground.

"Um, no. But I like driving!" he exclaimed, almost over-enthusiastically. Tsuna looked away.

_Okay... I don't really see what that has to do with me...  
_

"Right. I don't watch F1 too. I don't like it," he replied flatly.

"Oh, so what _do_ you like?" Dino asked. Tsuna tilted his head to the side and thought for a while.

"I like... reading..." he finally answered. He omitted the 'manga' part out of it. Dino grinned.

"I like reading too! What books do you like to read?" He took a step closer. Tsuna ran through the manga he had read in his mind, trying to mind one that was fairly popular internationally. He couldn't find any. Thankfully, his coworker stepped in just in time to hand Dino his drink. Dino accepted it and fidgeted for a while.

"I... have to go off now," he said, sounding rather sad. Tsuna nodded absentmindedly, already counting the minutes before he could go back into the employee room to continue his break. "Do you want to go and grab coffee some time?"

"Oh, I don't think I'm free anytime soon. Sorry about that." Tsuna shot him down immediately. It was true, after all. He was going to be experimenting with a few new recipes and writing a million essays in the next three weeks for an individual project, and he most probably wouldn't have enough time to do anything outside of his schedule. Even taking boxed lunches to Enma would put a strain on his schedule.

"Oh. Okay." Dino's eyes flickered to the floor. Still deep in thought, Tsuna continued speaking.

"If you ask me again in three weeks, I can give you a more positive answer. Probably."

"Really?!" Dino's head jerked back up so fast Tsuna was terrified the poor guy would get whiplash and have to be sent to the student care centre.

"Yeah?" Tsuna answered, voice an octave higher with slight fear. Dino didn't notice, and all but skipped out of the cafe. Tsuna's coworker stared at him.

"Are you doin' this on purpose?" she asked. Tsuna wrinkled his nose, confused.

"Doing what?"

She stared at Tsuna for a little while longer before shrugging and turning back to the counter to clean up. "Well, if it brings paying customers, I don't see why not."

"Why not what?" _Silence_. "Why don't you and the manager _ever_ tell me anything?"

* * *

**Author's notes **

ok this is it no alaude or hibari i'm so sorry. i wrote this when i was at my part-time job today. the later conversations (about F1 car {because i was workin next to the road where the race was takin place} and "i like driving" is a literal real conversation i shared with a customer of mine. til this day, i still don't know what the hell they were trying to achieve)

i'm going to sleep now have a good day everyone i love all of you.

for anyone who is worried, well. yes, tsuna's manager and tsuna's coworker will be recurring oc characters. they won't be very important, though, just something there for the story to progress. we probs won't even know their names. (we only know that tsu's coworker is female and that's 'bout it)

**Reviews**

_thanks_ 10/10 - Thank you for your review! I'm glad that you like it! Sorry I can't promise much about updates, though.

_hikaru_ \- it actually happened in the manga. i'm pretty much in love with that scene (and the fact that tsuna wanted to be a giant robot when he was younger. expect more allusions to that in the story yo) and who said tsuna was a worthy opponent? (wink face because ffnet doesn't allow emoticons here)

EDIT 13/10: used wrong pronoun for tsu's manager. Fixed it.


	6. Skylarks and Garlic

**A Foreboding Conversation  
**

* * *

In a secluded room in the university, four people sat around a round table, waiting. The doors opened and someone stepped in with grave news.

"I just received news that he's dead."

"Seriously? How'd he get killed?"

"Car accident. Nothing special."

"_Nothing special?!_ Man, it must have been some car accident to kill that resilient idiot off."

"Who was the human in the car, anyway?"

"_I forbid you from going after them_."

"Aw Vice-Principal, you're no fun.

"Do you even care about his death or not?"

"'Course I care! I mean, now there's only eight of us and seven of those stupid things. We've got to be careful."

"I don't think you should count her. She's chronically ill at the moment... Sooner or later, there's only going to be seven of us."

"... God help us."

* * *

**Cinderella Story | 1827 (?)  
**

* * *

"G-get away from him!" Tsuna found this scene rather familiar. Again, it was Enma on the ground, bruised and beaten. However, instead of a group of boys, there was only one male. One terrifying black haired male that made all the self-preservation alarm bells in Tsuna ring loudly. However, it was Enma on the ground and Tsuna needed his precious taste-testing guinea pig, I mean, precious _friend_ alive and unharmed.

The terrifying male did not hear him. Tsuna's frustration outweighed his fear and, without a second thought, he slipped off his right shoe and _attacked_ the guy. Well, maybe 'attacked' was too strong a word for it. Tsuna more or less tackled the guy from behind and whacked him on the head with his right shoe, after which his self-preservation instincts kicked in and he panicked, scurrying off the guy and dragging Enma away before the guy could even get back up on his feet.

The day Hibari Kyoya got brought down by a shoe was a day he would never forget.

* * *

"Did you hear? Hibari is looking for the person whose foot will fit this impossibly small shoe. I mean, what eighteen year old has that shoe size?"

"That person must be incredibly short."

"Oh man, is this Cinderella or something?"

"I think Hibari wants to kill the person more than marry them, though..."

Tsuna resolutely ignored the words of his course mates as he walked through the crowds to his next lecture. Perhaps if he pretended to be ignorant of the situation, he could deny the event out of reality and restore the balance of the world back into one in which he did _not _have a _horrifyingly violent person chasing after him_.

It was really too bad the world didn't work that way.

* * *

"I am looking for Sawada Tsunayoshi."

The entire lecture hall fell silent and immediately, as one entity, everyone turned to look at the petite brunette sitting at the back of the hall. Tsuna wondered if he had time to fall through the very fabric of space and time before Hibari finished ascending, or if he could suddenly summon a demon from the other realm as a distraction. In the end, Tsuna decided that while he will not accept death as his fate, he was _not_ going down without a fight. He had just painstakingly finished a twelve page essay and he wasn't dying until he passed it up to his lecturer.

"Excuse me, you are disturbing the lecture and disrupting the peace of the class. If you need me, you can find me after class hours, can you?" Tsuna said with all the calm and confidence he did not possess, looking at Hibari in the eyes. When orange-brown met grey, Tsuna could swear his entire life flashed before his eyes. Still, he refused to give in. This was an important lecture on Basic Nutrition and Food that he could not afford to miss.

When Hibari refused to budge, Tsuna sighed and stood up. "Have it your way," he muttered under his breath. He probably could do some internet research and ask his lecturer questions if he managed to survive.

Without a word, Hibari turned around and walked down the stairs. Tsuna trailed after him reluctantly. He could practically see all his course mates planning what they were going to say at his funeral.

Tsuna sighed.

* * *

"What is the meaning of this," Hibari demanded flatly. Tsuna was staring blankly at the full colour, high definition video of himself hurling his entire body at Hibari and bashing him over the head with his shoe. Right, of course. There were security cameras _everywhere_, and with _high quality_ too. Wonderful. There was no way he was going to get out of this. At least Hibari spoke Japanese.

"Y-you were bullying Kozato-kun," Tsuna reasoned. Hibari scoffed.

"I don't stoop to such herbivorous methods. The herbivore was crowding so I bit him to death."

"How was he crowding? He was the only one there!"

_Bam!_ Tsuna's eyes went wide when a tonfa embedded itself in the wall beside his head. Hibari leaned in close to Tsuna's face, grey eyes flashing dangerously.

"Do not question me, little animal," he hissed. Tsuna could feel his breath on his face. Huh, it smelled like _mochi_. Green tea? No wait, this wasn't important at the moment!

"H-hibari-san..." Tsuna murmured. _Hiee! __Too close! _

A contemplate glint flashed in Hibari's eyes and he lowered his gaze to the brunette's neck.

And bit it.

"HIIIEEEE!" In pure reflex, Tsuna's knee jerked up and slammed into Hibari's abdomen. Using this moment of distraction, Tsuna quickly slipped out from underneath Hibari and ran out of the Disciplinary Room.

He never really got his shoe back.

* * *

**Doppelgänger | F27  
**

* * *

Sometimes, Tsuna wondered why he did things. It figured that one of the only brave things he had ever done in his _entire life_ would result in him getting stalked by a violent weirdo that loved using animal metaphors.

"_Come back here, little animal._" The sentence echoed down the empty hallway and Tsuna had to bite back a whimper. Even the slightest sound would give away his position. His eyes quickly flickered from corner to corner, hoping that he could find a place to hide in.

The sound of footsteps became louder and Tsuna wanted to cry. He had stayed in the same place for too long and was, for a lack of better term, going to get _eaten_.

He was ninety-six percent sure that Hibari was a cannibal. Either that, or he was a different species altogether: one that preyed on the tears and fears of human beings.

"_Little animal._" Oh god, the voice was closer now. It was all or nothing.

With speed Tsuna didn't even know he possessed, he shot out from his dark little corner and ran for his life. Almost immediately after, he could hear the telltale sound of accelerating footsteps, signifying that Hibari was now chasing after him. Tsuna quickly spun around the corner and went into the first room he saw, softly shutting the door behind him and leaning against it, making sure to keep out of view of any windows facing the hall. When the sound of footsteps faded, Tsuna sighed in relief and turned to inspect the room he was in.

Apparently, he was in one of the culinary labs in the school. The lights were on, and he could hear the tell-tale sounds of a steamer at work. But who could possibly be in the lab after school hours?

Wide brown eyes met gray ones. Tsuna took in a familiar face and closed his eyes before promptly sinking into a fetal position and sobbing into his hands.

* * *

Fon was extremely distressed. This was the first time someone actually broke down upon seeing his face. What was the problem? Was there something on his face?

Slowly, as if approaching a small, skittish animal, he walked towards the boy and knelt down in front of him. He could barely make out a few words from the whimpers, but after hearing 'Hibari-san', it was enough. Fon let out a sigh. Really, Kyoya should know better than that! He couldn't just scare away all the people he wanted to be friends with just because he was shy! But back to the situation at hand.

"Ah, don't worry, I won't hurt you." Fon put on his best non-threatening smile. "I'm not Kyoya. My name is Fon, and Kyoya's my cousin."

Brown eyes peeked out from the boy's hands as he stared at Fon for a while. Fon waited patiently. He was good at being patient.

Obviously, he didn't expect the boy to suddenly hurl himself at him in a hug, causing the both of them to fall, with Fon on his back and the boy on top of him. A bright red blush covered his face as the boy's warm weight settled on his body.

"Ah! That's a relief! My name is Tsuna! It's nice to meet you!" Tsuna's smile was bright and brilliant, and Fon could feel himself blushing for an entirely different reason, but managed to contain himself. He gave an awkward cough to bring Tsuna's attention back to him.

"It's nice to meet you, Tsuna. While I would wish to talk more, it would be nicer to continue our conversation in a much more comfortable position, no?"

Tsuna stared at Fon blankly for a while before realising their position. Immediately, he scrambled off the older male, face flaming red. "S-sorry! I didn't notice because you were so comfortable. I mean, it was comfortable lying on you- I mean!" Tsuna seemed to give up trying to clear the misunderstanding and decided to bury his face in his hands and let out a muffled shriek. Fon smiled at him. What a cute boy; he could see now why Kyoya had taken a liking to him.

The timer rang and Fon turned to look at his steamer. Oh! It seemed that his _jiaozi_ were ready! Under Tsuna's curious gaze, Fon took out the plate of _jiaozi_ from the steamer and placed it on the table. Immediately, Tsuna's eyes lit up in recognition.

"Oh! These are _gyoza_! I never was very sure how to cook them. I mean, you could boil them, or pan-fry them, or steam them... Ah, do you know the best way to bring out the flavour?" Brown eyes were literally sparkling. Fon found himself at a lost for words, mesmerised by Tsuna's eyes and excitement. He quickly shook himself out of his daze.

"It all depends on the personal taste of the people eating it. If you like it in a certain style, it doesn't mean that other people do too," he replied. Tsuna nodded, absorbing Fon's words.

"I see. What's your preferred method, Fon-san?" he asked, tilting his head to the side. Fon smiled.

"I prefer steaming. Would you like to try it, Tsuna?" he asked, gesturing to the plate on the table. Tsuna seemed to hesitate for a moment but, after seeing Fon's encouraging smile, decided to go for it and tried one.

"Ah! It's really good, Fon-san! Although, personally, I think there's a bit too much-" Suddenly, Tsuna's eyes dulled and he collapsed to the ground. Fon panicked. What happened? Was it the _jiaozi_? He decided to go check it and, immediately, found the answer.

"Oh. It seemed that I used too much garlic again."

* * *

**Author's note**

somehow a plot developed (as can be seen in "a foreboding conversation"). i hate myself. by the way, did anyone catch what i was referencing in the third last line of that small section? if it's a no, it's still fine. I wanted it to be subtle, although i have to admit i'm not very good at subtle.

as for hibari. well. it's probably not up to standards, i'm sorry. i was looking at my planning and all it said was "hit by shoe. hibari keeps targeting tsuna." and that was about it

fon's was a bit rushed too. also, fon is an unreliable narrator when it comes to his family members (hibari alaude and i-pin) oh well. fun fact: i eat _jiaozi/gyoza_ pretty often. garlic is stronger in gyoza than in jiaozi. confusing? well, basically, they're essentially the same thing but jiaozi is in chinese while gyoza is in japanese. and you know how different cultures tend to modify food based on their tastes. (i personally prefer boiled jiaozi with prawn in it. i don't like vegetables all that much)

**Reviews**

_Guest 13/10_ \- maybe because I've accidentally made Dino come off as a bit too creepy? Haha, thank you for your kind words!

_Paleud_ \- thanks! I'll try my best.

_mariaelennaella_ \- oh wow your name is such a mouthful! I'm glad you enjoyed reading this story! Thanks for leaving a review!

_hikaru_ \- I'm actually thinking of including them, but I'm not too sure yet. Do you want them to come? (Personally, a Reborn without a Leon is really weird) They'll probably add on to the plot, or at least Natsu will.

_Guest 18/10_ \- Rinato's a nice name. I think the more logical choice would be Renato, though, considering that it's the Italian form of 'Renatus', which is a late latin name meaning 'born again'. Either that or Reborn was feeling edgy and decided to rename himself for whatever reason. (that reason sounds more interesting, albeit less plausible)


	7. Green Eyes

**The Observation of Gokudera Hayato | 5927(?)**

* * *

Tsuna met Gokudera Hayato outside of the café he worked in. It was a rather strange meeting, and Tsuna would rather not think about it.

You see, Gokudera Hayato was the sort of person who was obsessed with the existence of aliens. Or UMAs, according to his terms. Normally, Tsuna wouldn't care about a person's private life, but Gokudera Hayato's particular hobby was affecting the business of the café, and that was just plain rude.

"So…" Tsuna's coworker started from beside him. Her elbows were on the counter and she was resting her head on her hands. "Who's gonna tell 'im?" Tsuna shot her an exasperated look.

"You do not have any inclination to go, do you?" he asked. His coworker had the nerve to shot him a large, close-eyed grin.

"Nu-uh," she said cheekily. "You're gonna have to tell Mister Stalker over there t' back off. Either that or come in; we can never have too many customers." Tsuna didn't bother acknowledging her statement and just walked around the counter and out of the café. When the silver haired stalker noticed Tsuna walking towards him, his green eyes widened and he dove behind a bush to hide. Tsuna really wanted to know who would be fooled by that. He _saw_ the boy hide in the bush, for goodness sake!

Tsuna stood in front of the bush, wondering how to start talking to the boy. "_What are you doing_," was too vague; "_Why have you been camping outside the café for three days_," was a little too confrontational; and "_What are you trying to achieve with your life, seriously_," a little too… much. So.

"Hello," Tsuna put on his customer smile. "Would you like to come into the café? It can't be very comfortable in there." Tsuna waited patiently for a head of silver hair to stick out of the bush. Green eyes glared at him warily.

"Are you an UMA?" he asked. Tsuna blinked and tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know what an UMA is," he admitted lightly, and was promptly subjected to a ten minute long talk speech about Unidentified Mysterious Animals (UMA for short), a few examples of UMAs and where to find them, and finally, why his manager was an UMA.

Tsuna _knew_ that today was going to be a weird day.

* * *

Tsuna's manager seemed extremely amused as they answered Gokudera's questions. Tsuna, on the other hand, was extremely mortified and suffering from a case of severe second-hand embarrassment. Really, the questions Gokudera were asking were seriously too weird!

"Are you human?" Gokudera demanded. Tsuna's manager gave him a small, enigmatic smile. Really, Tsuna thought that they were having _way_ too much fun.

"I am an earthling, born and bred," they replied. Gokudera seemed content with that answer and moved on to the next question.

"Are you male or female?"

Tsuna's manager rolled their eyes at Gokudera's question. "Does it really matter? I am who I am," they brushed the question aside dismissively. "And besides, it's going to be peak hour soon. I suggest you either buy something, or leave." And with that, they stood up and walked into the back of the café, ignoring all of Gokudera's protests. Tsuna buried his face in his hands and sighed. If he didn't know any better, he would think that his manager was _trying_ to rile Gokudera up.

Oh wait, he _did_ know better, and his manager _was_ trying to rile Gokudera up.

Sometimes, he almost believed the headaches he got from working here were totally not worth the experience he gained.

* * *

Tsuna was getting real tired of Gokudera's shit. Seriously. It was _basic common sense_ that employee spaces were _off-limits_ to people _who were __**not**__ employees_.

So what the hell was that silver haired, UMA-obsessed weirdo doing in the storage room? He was just lucky Tsuna thought that it was too much trouble to call the police and report him for trespassing and attempted theft. And that Tsuna was way too nice for that.

His manager, on the other hand…

Tsuna stepped into the storeroom at the same time Gokudera turned to glance at the door. There was a moment of silence between the both of them before Gokudera jumped back in shock and violently slammed into the shelf behind him. Tsuna watched, with a mounting sense of dread, as the flimsy plastic shelf wobbled and shook precariously and _tipped_–

And Tsuna was moving before he knew it, barreling forward and tackling Gokudera to the ground beside the shelf as all the heavy – Tsuna would know, he tried to carry them. Once. – cardboard boxes toppled over and crashing onto the floor with a reverberating sound not unlike that of a collapsing building. The loud sound echoed throughout the café and, _of course_, attracted the manager to the scene of Tsuna lying sprawled over Gokudera's prone body and surrounded by fallen cardboard boxes. They just stared at the scene for a while, quiet but not because they were at a loss of what to say. And then, to Tsuna's ever increasing mortification, they just directed their gaze of Gokudera and smirked. They just _smirked_, obviously feeding strange subliminal message into Gokudera's head, and _freakin' left_ without clearing anything up.

A bit hesitant and with a small dash of terrified, Tsuna glanced up at Gokudera to see sparkling eyes full of something he vaguely knew to be hero-worship.

"You saved me," Gokudera breathed. "I am forever in your debt."

Tsuna was done. He was _so done_ with _everything_.

* * *

**Despair and Hope | 5127**

* * *

Tsuna had never tasted total utter _fear_ – barring any incident that involved Hibari Kyoya – until that very moment. That moment being the printer jamming while it was in the middle of churning out his ten page essay that was going to be due in _fifteen minutes_.

Forget about money, _procrastination_ was the root of all evil.

As it was, Tsuna could basically _see_ his soul leaving his body from a strange third-person point of view at the same time he was staring at the printer with the little flashing red light.

"Um." A voice startled Tsuna out of his despair and he whirled around to see a red haired boy with green eyes and glasses. Huh, he looked familiar.

The boy's green eyes flickered down to the printer, and a strange look filled them. Tsuna recognized it as the look he himself got when faced with a new recipe to experiment with, or the look Gokudera got when he found out more about his 'UMAs'. It was the looked of someone in their element, who knew _exactly_ what to do.

The red haired boy stepped towards the printer and knelt down to inspect it, muttering some weird technobabble that Tsuna could make neither heads nor tails of; and he wasn't even going to try to either. There was a few minutes of the boy fiddling around with the printer and the computer connected to it, working some magic or something, and the printer spewed out the rest of his essay in record time. The boy picked up the stack of papers and handed it to Tsuna with a smile on his face and the brown haired boy couldn't help it.

With a large, _sparkling_, grin – that caused the red haired boy to blush for some reason – Tsuna threw his arms around his savior, praises and declarations of love spilling out of his mouth. The boy turned to stone in his arms, albeit a stone with a very, _very_ red face, but Tsuna didn't care. He was safe! He could hand up his essay!

A glance at the clock told him that his class was about to start in three minutes so, with one last word of gratitude, he let go of the boy and rushed to class.

Really, Tsuna should have known better by now. The effect he had on other people was simply _devastating_.

* * *

About three days later, Irie Shouichi became a regular at the café Tsuna worked at. Although he was a bit intimidated by the amount of people glaring at him due to the special treatment Tsuna gave him, he would never give up the chance to talk to Tsuna.

Tsuna remained blissfully oblivious through it all.

* * *

**Author's note**

Who should i write about next? Because I don't know. Just give me your preference, and i will run it through random name picker. Can be someone already mentioned, can be someone you want me to introduce, whatever. (what will happen is: if one person votes for byakuran and two vote for reborn, i will key in byakuran once and reborn twice, making it more likely for reborn to be picked)

Right. I don't hate Gokudera; I quite like him, actually. But he is such a bloody pain to write i cannot understand his thought process at all.

(The manager is kinda important to the story, but just to the plot. I actually just planned to use them to bring in Gokudera, but considering this is _Trinisette_ University)

(I chose the manager's words {earthling} with purpose yo)

**Reviews**

**hikaru** hmm, Tsuna's knight in shining armor? Well, if I had the choice it would be Tsuna himself or Nana. Just kidding (but really it would be rather interesting for Nana to be the Protector of her Tsu-kun's chastity) Hmm, I really don't have an actual preference, but maybe Enma? He's chivalrous enough (and I like him because he's a hopeless child like Tsuna). How about you?


	8. Kisses I

**Omake – French Kiss | 6927**

* * *

**Won't happen any time soon**

* * *

It was soft, slimy, wet, and disgusting. It was strange, but warm, and it lit some strange heat at the bottom of Tsuna's stomach. He shifted uncomfortably, hands trapped between his body and Mukuro's, palms flat against the indigo-haired teen's chest in an attempt to push him away.

He couldn't breathe. He was suffocating; drowning in this unfamiliar sensation and he wasn't sure of when he could resurface; if he even wanted to resurface.

Tsuna finally broke away from the kiss, turning his head to the side and breathing heavily. Mukuro didn't miss a beat, trailing light kisses down the column of Tsuna's exposed neck. The strange heat within Tsuna intensified, and the small brunette found himself shivering from the sensory overload.

"M-Mukuro," Tsuna breathed out as he slowly gained control of his cognitive thought. He continued pushing at Mukuro's shoulders, trying to dislodge the older boy's mouth from his neck. He hoped there wouldn't be a mark.

"What is it, _coniglietto_?" Tsuna could feel the hot breath on his neck, and that further solidified his resolve.

Slowly, gently, he placed his hands on either side of Mukuro's face and maneuvered the both of them until they were eye to eye with each other. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes – causing Mukuro to unconsciously mirror him – and jerked his head forward sharply.

* * *

His forehead ached, and he felt kind of dizzy, but at least he managed to escape.

* * *

**Vampire and Angel Kiss | 1827**

* * *

"Hibari-san!" Tsuna shrieked. The violent black haired teen had pinned the small brunette to the wall again, and Tsuna wanted to cry. He was so _terrified_ that he knew if Hibari let go of him, he'd fall flat on his butt.

"Little animal," Hibari acknowledged tonelessly. Tsuna tried to jerk out of his grasp but Hibari merely needed to tighten his hold and then Tsuna was unable to move. He felt the hot breath of Hibari on his neck and immediately froze up, going rigid in fear. He was going to die, and he hadn't even finished his studies yet! He wanted to do things with his life, like make his mother proud! Or make enough money so that his dad didn't need to work anymore and could spend more time with his mum!

He couldn't die here!

There was a odd flash of blinding orange, followed by the bizarre feeling of something powerful yet non-lethal exploding, and Hibari got thrown to the other side of the hall. Without Hibari holding him, Tsuna slumps to the ground. His right arm was outstretched, and he eyed it curiously. A few things clicked in his head and he paled. _He_ was the one that shoved Hibari to the other side of the room with his hand. How in the world did he do that?

How in the world was he going to get Hibari to leave him alone now?!

Quickly, he turned over to his hands and knees in an attempt to pick himself up before Hibari could recover. Unfortunately, he was too slow and Hibari managed to retrain him once again.

The older teen's body covered Tsuna's smaller one as Hibari's legs pinned Tsuna's own two legs to the ground, and his hands locked around Tsuna's wrist in a firm, almost bruising, grip. Tsuna was back to square one once again. Actually, this wasn't even square one; this was minus square one with how uncomfortable it was considering that Tsuna's upper body was pressed on the ground by Hibari's weight.

He felt something graze his neck and froze up once again, bracing himself for pain. It was the right thing to do since, right after that moment, Hibari sunk his teeth into Tsuna's neck once again, making Tsuna yelp in pain. His shoulders shook as he shuddered in pain, and something wet trailed down his face. What… was it? Was he really crying at a moment like this? This was horrible. Any bully-victim would tell you that crying in front of a bully is one of the biggest mistakes you could make.

Tsuna took a deep breath and held himself perfectly still, trying to calm himself. Perhaps it was the way Tsuna suddenly became still, save for his slightly shaking shoulders, perhaps it was the muffled noises coming from him, but Hibari finally realised that something was wrong. There was a moment of silence in which Hibari tried to process what was going on, and decided to turn Tsuna over. Unable to muster the strength to fight back, Tsuna let the raven haired teen overturn him, arms laying limply on either side of his head and brown eyes shining with unshed tears. Immediately, he closed his eyes and turned his head to the side in a half-hearted attempt to prevent Hibari from seeing him cry. Hibari was quiet above him.

There was a soft, gentle brush against his eye and Tsuna slowly opened them to see Hibari pulling away. The raven haired teen looked painfully uncomfortable and he glared at the ground above the brunette's head.

"H-Hibari-san?" Tsuna whispered. Hibari's glare increased in intensity.

"I. Did not intend to make you cry," he forced out, shifting off of Tsuna. Tsuna slowly sat up and quickly rubbed his tears away.

"Then…"

Hibari shifted, refusing to make eye contact with Tsuna. He was still glaring, but now at some place beside Tsuna's ear. "Kissing. I read that vampire kisses are enjoyable to people. You bite people."

"So…" Tsuna rubbed the area in which he got bitten. Damn, that was sure to leave a mark. "You _don't_ want to kill me?"

"No."

"Ah." All the tension left Tsuna, and he suddenly felt giddy with relief. He smiled up at Hibari. "You don't kiss someone like that Hibari-san! My mother tells me kisses are like this!" And, without much though, Tsuna leaned up and pecked Hibari on the cheek. Hibari became rigid, grey eyes slightly wider than usual, and stared at Tsuna as if he were some really strange, exotic animal. Tsuna, too relieved to actually care about anything other than the fact that he was _alive_ and _well_, got to his feet and shot Hibari another smile.

"I have to go for class now! Let's talk later, Hibari-san!"

Notably, Tsuna was too oblivious to even wonder about why Hibari wanted to kiss him.

* * *

**Author's note  
**

Congratulations Hibari and Mukuro for winning the writing lottery. Do not worry, I will get to writing all the characters suggested soon. I was listening to Sakura Addiction (for the first time) as I was writing this, and the song was so weird. Seriously. I mean, the lyrics don't match up with the singers.

Awkward Hibari with super low EQ is still the best Hibari. Inspiration for this chapter came from Hweianime! Thank you for prompting me into thinking about Tsuna's reaction to kisses from people! And many other things in which I will give credit to you if I manage to write them…

If anyone has a certain scene in which they would like to see, please do tell me. In fact if anyone wants to discuss any khr thing with me (like to remind me that daemon is, indeed, an asshole of great proportions), I'd be happy to do so.

If you're asking if Tsuna has flames. Well. He's basically just like everybody else

* * *

**Info about the kisses **

_french kiss_ \- pretty sure people already know that

_vampire kiss_ \- on neck with light biting and sucking (for some reason)

_angel kiss_ \- on eyelid or nearby

(I am on the journey to write the world's most awkward and uncomfortable disgusting kiss. as you can tell, i do not find the act of kissing appealing)

* * *

**Reviews**

_Guest 11/11_ \- Nah, the manager isn't Kawahira. But they have a connection to him...

_hikaru_ \- I guess Reborn's fine. I like him as much as the next person but he's not my favourite ahaha. Hmm, you probably can't find a man like that in real life and even if he does exist, I doubt he'll be a good partner. But to each their own; Reborn's not my ideal partner, but maybe he has something you want! I can see why he's appealing.


	9. Marshmallow Menu

**Warning: ** A bit OOC here, but byakuran's going to go back to normal soon.

* * *

**Memories Worlds Away | 10027 (?)**

* * *

_Blood on the ground, in his clothes, on his hands. The warm, sticky liquid dripped down as he lifted his hand to cup the face in front of him in a mockery of a lover's touch. _

_Brown eyes slowly lost their light as their owner stared at Byakuran with not hatred, not fury, but sadness and pity. _

_It made him furious. _

_Byakuran stabbed Sawada Tsunayoshi once again, mouth twisting into a snarl to ask–_

Purple eyes snapped open, and a scowl immediately made its way onto Byakuran's face. The disturbing dreams had visited him once again. With an irritated sigh, the white haired teen forced himself out of bed. He couldn't afford to miss another class unless he wanted to fail the course his parents had so lovingly chosen for him. Of course, he could always try to do better in class. With all this knowledge in his head, he could, quite literally, ace any course he wanted. But he didn't.

Seriously, what was the point? Everything was just so… meaningless. He didn't have a purpose in this strange, flame-less world.

He felt so empty.

_(He wanted to see those brown, brown eyes once again, even if they were narrowed in hatred and scorn. He just wanted those eyes on him because they made him feel like he mattered, made him feel _alive–)

Byakuran closed his eyes and tried to shove the thoughts to the back of his mind. He didn't bother trying to get them entirely out of his head. It wouldn't work.

He knew that from experience.

* * *

Byakuran walked through the campus, trying his best to keep to himself. He didn't want to look at other people, he didn't want to see them, he didn't want to see _those images_–

A tall male with spiky black hair and brown eyes walked past, a baseball bat strapped to his back and a wide smile on his face.

_(Yamamoto Takeshi lay on the ground, sword broken and brown eyes blank. He was the best swordsman in the world, but he was no match for Genkishi, not without a box wea–)_

Byakuran increased his walking pace. He needed to get some marshmallows from the campus supermarket. It was disgusting that he liked marshmallows as much as the other… as much as the man in the images did, but he couldn't deny that marshmallows helped push back the images. Sometimes he wondered if he really liked marshmallows, or if his like for the sugary treat was a characteristic of the man that was bleeding into him.

He wondered how much of him was still the Byakuran that belonged to this world, if there was anything left at all.

* * *

Tsuna was having an absolutely _exhausting_ day. Firstly, he must have forgotten to set the alarm clock the night before because it didn't ring in the morning. When Tsuna woke up, it was already eleven o' clock in the morning. He had missed his first tutorial of the day, and was going to be late for his lecture.

Secondly, Gokudera Hayato ambushed him on the way to the lecture hall for some reason or another, causing him to be _even later_. He basically missed three-quarters of the lecture, and the lecturer reprimanded him in front of the entire cohort. The entire experience was horribly embarrassing.

Thirdly, work was extremely exhausting. Even more exhausting than usual. Gokudera had been there with his excessive stalking of the manager (seriously, Tsuna was beginning to form a theory that Gokudera had a crush on them or something. He didn't really like that theory) and it appeared that the strange blonde lookalike of his managed to find out where he worked, because Tsuna swore that he saw him lurking around the shop. After being suddenly kissed by the blonde, he couldn't really say that he wanted to meet him again anytime soon. Therefore, he decided to take the back exit out. This led him to encounter his manager, who _politely requested_ him to try out a recipe concerning marshmallows. When he asked why, they only muttered something cryptic about dandelions and marshmallows but didn't elaborate.

Hence, Tsuna was now at the campus supermarket shopping for ingredients for strawberry s'mores tarts. It involved strawberries, marshmallows, and dark chocolate, so it should fit his manager's criteria, right?

Tsuna sped up when he saw that there was only one bag of marshmallows left on the shelf. He reached for it around the same time a white haired boy did, causing Tsuna to want to scream in frustration. He did not have time to have a petty fight over a bag of marshmallows! Whoever this white haired dude was, he would just have to _deal_ because the marshmallows were _his_.

"Hands off the bag," Tsuna hissed. The white haired boy glared at him with purple eyes.

"I saw it first, you fluffy twig midget," he shot back. Tsuna saw red.

"No you don't understand, you creepy dandelion! I _desperately need_ to try out this new recipe!" Tsuna shrieked. '_And I am not a midget, you overgrown titan!_' he added in his head.

* * *

"No you don't understand you creepy dandelion! I _desperately need_ to try out this new recipe!" the boy yelled back and Byakuran paused for a second to actually _look_ at him.

Brown hair, petite stature, wide brown eyes filled with a slightly crazed look in them, and Byakuran could almost, _almost_, swear that they flashed orange for a fraction of a second.

_(Orange bled into brown as a vibrant flame ignited on his forehead. "Byakuran," the boy spoke. "I will not forgive you.")_

Byakuran recognized the boy. He'd recognize Sawada Tsunayoshi anywhere.

His grip on the bag loosened and Tsunayoshi managed to rip it out of his grasp with a triumphant yell, shoving it into his shopping basket. He turned back to Byakuran, about to say something, when he suddenly paused. He must have seen something in Byakuran's face because concern overtook Tsunayoshi's features and he stepped towards Byakuran.

"Um, are you alright?" he asked hesitantly. "Did you really want the marshmallows that much?"

Byakuran snapped out of his daze and shoved his hands into his pockets, scowling. "No," he replied brusquely. He didn't need pity from this person, this ghost from the images in his head. In fact, he didn't need to be anywhere around him at all. The new shipment of marshmallows would be coming tomorrow anyway. Byakuran could wait another day. He turned to leave but found himself unable to take another step for Tsunayoshi had wrapped his fingers around Byakuran's wrist in a surprisingly firm grip.

"Hey, I need someone to sample my cooking. You're going to be that person," Tsunayoshi requested – no, he _demanded_ – with a strange look in his eyes. And did his eyes flash orange? It must be Byakuran's mind playing tricks on him. Flames didn't exist in this world, after all.

Without any input from Byakuran, Tsunayoshi started dragging the white haired boy into the dorm room, shoving Byakuran in one of the chairs and moving to the kitchen to make whatever thing he wanted Byakuran to sample. Byakuran couldn't help but feel a little intimidated by the situation. Was Tsunayoshi always this way? No, perhaps it was only in this world. It was a little ironic, seeing the little brunet shine so much, hold himself _so confidently_, even though he didn't have the defining factor that made him who he was: his beautifully pure sky flames. Byakuran, on the other hand–

Wait, what was Tsunayoshi doing with a _blow torch_?!

* * *

Tsuna – who had insisted that Byakuran call him by that nickname – was actually really good company. The food he made, strawberry s'mores tarts, Tsuna said, was also rather delicious. As Byakuran ate the food, they began to become comfortable in each other's presence.

To Byakuran's horror, the urge to tease Tsuna rose up in him. He wanted to see Tsuna flush red in anger and embarrassment, his brown eyes fill with unshed tears, his… his…

_(His pure white dress shirt stain with the crimson liquid of his–)_

_NO._ Byakuran gritted his teeth. He refused. He absolutely refused to be like _him_.

"Byakuran?" Tsuna's voice broke through the haze of thought and brought Byakuran back to earth. For the first time since he was seven, the intrusive, invasive thoughts completely left his head. Instead, Byakuran's every thought was focused on the brunette in front of him.

_Obsession_, something whispered in his mind. He didn't hear it.

"I'm not insane!" The words were out of his mouth before he knew it.

_I'm not insane!" eight year old Byakuran insisted. The psychiatrist smiled at him indulgingly, clearly not taking his words seriously. Byakuran turned desperately to his parents but they didn't look at him. _

"_Can you fix him?" At those words, Byakuran wanted to vomit. He wasn't crazy. He didn't need any fixing. Why couldn't anyone see that? _

"I never said you were," Tsuna replied him. His tone gave nothing away. "Regardless, is the food nice?" A moment passed as Byakuran processed Tsuna's question, a bit off-kilter from the sudden change in topic. He then nodded slowly and Tsuna beamed.

"Awesome. You're welcome to come over any time to eat my stuff, then!" Tsuna picked up the plate and made to move back into the kitchen. Byakuran's hand immediately shot out to catch the brunette's wrist.

"Why?" he asked. Tsuna blinked, and then he smiled.

"You seemed lonely," Tsuna replied simply. Byakuran's grip slackened and Tsuna took this chance to put the plate in the sink.

"Are you staying for dinner?" Tsuna asked. Byakuran made a sound of agreement, still a bit dazed.

The thoughts and images stayed away and, for the first time since the incident that happened when he was seven, Byakuran began to remember the person he was before everything went to hell.

* * *

**Accident**

* * *

**Byakuran, 7 years old**

* * *

"Damn it!" a voice snarled. Byakuran was distracted from his book just as something strange dropped onto the floor beside him, landing with a loud 'clack'. The little white haired boy had decided to move to the emergency staircase to sit and read his book in silence while his parents were in their meeting.

"Oh man, you've done it now," an amused voice spoke. "Can't believe that you dropped Sepira's stone-thing just like that."

Stone-thing? It must be the item that had landed beside Byakuran.

Its appearance was similar to that of a jack in the game knucklebones, but with rounder ends. It was a strange object. Ever the curious child, Byakuran reached out to pick it up and–

A searing pain shot through his head and Byakuran immediately withdrew his hand away from the object. The shape of the item didn't look as strange anymore, though, and had a hint of familiarity to it.

_Giglio Nero, White Spell, Black Spell, Millefiore, Yuni, Mare Rings._

Byakuran clutched his head and grit his teeth. He was barely aware of a presence diagonally behind him as they bended down to pick up the item.

"Here's the stone-thing," Byakuran heard them say. It was the voice of the second person. The first person sighed.

"It's been, what, a few thousand years now and you still call them stone-things? When are you going to–" He seemed to have caught notice of Byakuran. "Damn, the kid touched it, didn't he?"

"What was your first clue?"

The second person crouched down next to Byakuran, but Byakuran didn't bother with them. He had a splitting headache, and was unable to focusing on anything but staying awake. A moment passed before the person made a noise of annoyance. "Help the dandelion human, fo…" Byakuran faded out for a bit. "… sake."

The first person growled lowly. "Why should I bother with a human? Seriously," he snorted derisively. Byakuran felt the atmosphere turn cold.

"Because it's what Sepira would do," the second person said quietly. Another moment passed. Byakuran suddenly felt a hand on his head and saw a strange indigo light from his peripheral vision. He tried to turn around to see what it was, to see who these people were, but the second person had a strong grip and Byakuran couldn't move. The hand soon left Byakuran's head and the first person sighed.

"You really have a soft spot for these humans, don't you?" Byakuran's headache was gone by now, but he found himself drifting off into unconsciousness. He fought to stay awake, wanting to listen to the strange conversation between the two people.

"Haha, no. I just find them funny."

"Honestly … already wanting to start a … is already bad enough. _Must_ you adopt that human girl as well?"

"Hey. She makes a good cup of coffee and since Kawahi… creepy Wonomichi kid, why can't I have her? At least she doesn't go hohoho and hehehe for no reason. And besides…"

Byakuran closed his eyes as the world around him faded away.

* * *

**Author's note**

ayyyyyy you probably can make some connections because of this chapter. It's kind of plottish. We'll go back to beautiful crack things next chapter, probably. There's some foreshadowing about a person here too (coughgiottocough)

And to clear up: gokudera doesn't have a crush on the manager. It's obvious, but just in case. (he likes tsuna obv)

**Special thanks to**

_HikariNoTenshi-San_ for giving me the idea of a grumpy Byakuran with other Byakuran memories! Thank you, this chapter would never exist without your amazing help!

_Hweianime_ for always putting up with me and my weird ideas and helping me refine them into gems!

(_Sawda Tsunayoshi_ for existing for all of us coughtototurecough)

**Reviews**

_hikaru_ He must pay special attention to his sideburns then. Makes sure he curls one hair. Just one strand. And if someone were to propose to Tsuna? I have no idea, actually! I can't really see him with just one person. (If anyone will actually work up the courage to propose to Tsuna, it'd be Haru first. Just sayin). Maybe Giotto? And Tsuna would be so confused because Giotto would be stuttering so much and then babbling in Italian which he wouldn't understand. And then Tsuna would think that this was just one of the many trinkets Giotto gets for him and just takes it? Haha.

I'll try to reply to the other reviews, but it'll take some time. I have exams literally around the corner (coming Monday) and I'm gonna die.


	10. Those in the Cafe

_Maturation refers to the unfolding of one's genetic blueprint. _

* * *

**Real Name | R27 (?)**

* * *

Sometimes Reborn sat uncomfortably close to him, brushing against him with every movement he made and flooding Tsuna's olfactory sense with the scent of coffee, gunpowder, and a scent that probably belonged to Reborn alone. It was a nice scent, Tsuna had to admit. For some reason, he associated it with safety and protection. He remembered reading somewhere that some people smelled better than others because of genetic compatibility or something. Did that mean that Reborn and he were genetically compatible? That was a strange thought.

"Hey Reborn," he said one day out of the blue. "Do you think I smell nice?"

Reborn stared at him strangely and Tsuna realised that what he said was really weird if taken out of context. And to Reborn, it _was_ out of context. Hurriedly, he tried to explain himself.

"I'm asking because you smell nice to me, and I wanted to see if it's the same the other way around." That wasn't much better. "I'm curious because of some science thing I read online about genes and something called MHC typing," he added. This made Reborn's strange look ease up a bit, and amusement coloured the black haired man's features.

"I don't know, I've never really thought about it," he purred, shifting closer to Tsuna. Seeing the look in Reborn's eyes, Tsuna had the split-second revelation that he had made a big mistake.

Reborn's arms encircled him and he leaned down to bury his face in Tsuna's hair, inhaling deeply. Tsuna's eyes flickered about for an escape route, and his gaze landed on the table. His eyes widened.

"Well, Tsuna, you—"

"Holy shit!" Tsuna yelled, startling Reborn into letting go of him. Tsuna was pointing to a piece of paper on the table and Reborn turned to look at it. It was one of his tutorial worksheets. He didn't understand what had provoked Tsuna into such a large reaction.

"Renato Sinclair! I _knew_ it, Reborn wasn't your given name!"

"…"

"…"

Reborn pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to stave off his headache. Tsuna blinked innocently.

"What?"

* * *

**Knight in Shining Armor | OC27 **(probably)

* * *

Tsuna was an odd child, but the best co-worker she could ever ask for. Despite what anyone may think, she really did like him, maybe even love him. It was impossible not to. Tsuna just had that sort of effect on everyone, whether they wanted to be charmed or not. She should probably come up with a name for that effect. The Tsuna Effect? Nah, that's a bit too blatant. The fluffy cutie wouldn't be pleased with it. Maybe the Ventisette Effect? Yeah, that sounded nicer; it also gelled well enough with the name of the university – Trinisette – for anyone to be too suspicious.

She remembered the first and only time Tsuna had asked for her name. He wanted to know what he should call her. She didn't really know what to tell him; how was she supposed to explain her situation to him? That after getting taken in by the manager and leaving behind her old life, her old name, she hadn't even managed to find a new identity for herself?

No one but the manager, and now Tsuna, had ever asked for her name before.

When she didn't answer, _couldn't_ answer, Tsuna didn't push her. He only gave a small smile and quoted something he read online to ease the tension.

'_A name is a lie that keeps you from thinking that you can be more than one person._'

It was probably at that point that she fell for him. Of course, she wasn't going to pursue it. Tsuna already had so much on his plate, and she didn't think that she was ready to pursue an actual relationship with other people yet, so she let it lie.

It didn't mean that she didn't find the sight of people trying – and failing _miserably_ – to get Tsuna's favour extremely amusing. It also didn't mean that she wouldn't subtly encourage them; because this sort of thing was somehow helping the café, after all.

Of course, there were some points where she had to draw the line.

"C'mon, don't be like that!" a customer leaned closer to Tsuna, basically cornering him. Tsuna's face was a strange mix of annoyance and discomfort, with a small dash of murder. She could basically see Tsuna's various suitors getting out of their seats, about to… _neutralise_ this threat to Tsuna, but she didn't want to give them the chance to earn brownie points; not with such a cliché scene.

Donning the scariest smile she knew, she tapped the rowdy customer on the shoulder. When there wasn't any reaction, she grabbed him by the back of his collar and dragged him away from Tsuna, lifting him off the ground with ease. Everyone stared at her. Well, she supposed the sight was weird; young woman who looked like she had never seen a day of exercise in her life lifting up a burly, muscled man as if it were nothing. Damn, when put that way, she wanted to see the scene too. But back to the topic at hand.

"Harassment of customers is very much prohibited, good sir!" she said with poisonous sweetness. The man paled from fear. Or maybe it was because the collar of his shirt was digging into his neck and severely restricting blood and air supply. Oh dear, that wouldn't do. Still smiling, she carelessly dropped the rowdy customer onto the ground. Once his feet touched the ground, he quickly took a few steps back. They stared at each other for a moment before he hurriedly exited the shop. Oh dear, one less customer. Ah, they didn't need someone who would harass the fluffy cutie anyway.

"U-um," Tsuna said from behind her. She turned around to stare at him curiously, but also a little worried. What if he was scared of her after that display?

"What is it, Tsuna?"

"Thank you for saving me! I really appreciate it!" Tsuna yelled out, blushing. She stared at him, and a smile slowly grew on her lips. Ahh, Tsuna was really too cute.

"'S no problem," she replied, patting Tsuna on the head. An idea flashed through her mind and she gave a wicked smirk. Keeping an eye on Tsuna's suitors, she slowly bent down to kiss him on the forehead. Oh yes, so much anger and jealously all about. Very amusing. The weird one in the black fedora was gritting his teeth. The silver haired stalker looked seconds away from marching over and taking her head off. Even the two shy red headed ones looked a little annoyed.

When she pulled away, Tsuna was incredibly red and incoherent. Ah, she had overdone it. Oh well.

She heard the sound of a camera and turned to see that the manager had taken a photo of Tsuna's blushing face, no doubt to post on their café's Instagram later. The manager nodded at her and she smiled back.

* * *

"Hey Tsuna!" she called out after their shifts had ended. Tsuna turned to regard her curiously.

"Yes, co-worker-san?" he asked.

"There's this really cool restaurant a little distance away from the university. I kinda wanna go there, but it's a lil' weird to go alone. So, wanna go with me?"

"Sure!" Tsuna was so, so trusting. She just wanted to ruffle his hair.

"Alright! Can we meet tomorrow at six, by the main gates? Or do you still have classes then?" she asked, well aware that she had a shift during that time.

"No, tomorrow at six is fine. See you!" With that, he was off. She smirked.

It was time for her favourite deadpan snarker customer to meet the cutest fluffy thing alive.

* * *

_Ventisette_ means twenty-seven in Italian, by the way. I know, I'm so original.

* * *

**Blind Date | 2627** (Fran's handle _is_ 26 right?)

* * *

Tsuna reached the main gates five minutes before six and looked around. He couldn't see his elusive co-worker anywhere, but that was kind of expected. She was the type to arrive _exactly_ on time, right down to the last second. It was a bit unnerving, to be honest.

As the minute hand of his watched reached six, someone tapped on his shoulder. He turned around, expecting to see his co-worker, but green haired boy in a strange hat entered his line of sight. Tsuna stared at the hat for a while. Was that… an apple?

…

Alright whatever. Other people had their freedom to wear whatever they want.

"Are you 'the cutest fluffy thing alive'?" the boy asked in a deadpan. Tsuna twitched.

"Well, it depends on who's asking," he replied. "Did my co-worker send you here?"

"If by co-worker, you mean the crazy coffee lady, then yes, she did. She told me to tell you that something had come up and I would be taking her place instead."

"…" In hindsight, Tsuna should have expected this. "Alright then. My name is Tsunayoshi Sawada, but you can call me Tsuna. It's nice to meet you…?"

"My name is Fran. It's nice to meet you too, Fluffy-san."

Tsuna twitched again.

* * *

Despite Tsuna's hesitation about the entire situation, Fran was actually very good company. He was really funny, especially with his deadpan snarky humour, and the way he… _commented_ on everyone.

Tsuna knew that he was a bad person for laughing so much.

"I'm not joking, Fluffy-san! You really need to be careful around the perverted pineapple senpai!"

"Ah, this Gokudera sounds like a stalker. An UMA obsessed stalker. You should consider filing a restraining order, you know."

"Ah yes, I know Hibari Kyoya. Perverted pineapple senpai likes to mess around with him, after all. Hibari's like a caveman who hasn't fully evolved. You need to stay away from him, Fluffy-san. What if you catch his awkwardness?"

"This 'Dino' is a bit… Fluffy-san, about that restraining order…"

_How_ does he say all of that with a straight face? Tsuna was already dying of laughter, leaning against Fran as the green haired boy continued his monotone observations.

"Ah, Fluffy-san, do you think this Reborn specifically curls his own sideburns every morning or…?"

That was too much. Tsuna fell into Fran's lap, tears in his eyes and shaking from too much laughter.

* * *

Fran and Tsuna walked side by side back to the gates in a comfortable silence.

"I had a good time today with you, Fran," Tsuna commented, smiling gently. Fran nodded in agreement, expression unchanging.

"I had a good time with you too, Fluffy-san. It's a pity that I couldn't meet you earlier."

"Ah!" Tsuna pulled out his phone. "Would you like to exchange phone numbers?" His smile was sparkly and basically emitting flowers. Fran smiled back a little.

"Sure."

* * *

Two days later, Fran entered the café during Tsuna's shift. The brunet happily greeted his friend as Fran walked to the counter.

"Hello Fran, what can I get you today?" he asked. Fran pulled out a piece of paper and placed it on the counter. Tsuna blinked and looked at it.

It was a form for a restraining order.

Tsuna had to place his hands on the counter to prevent himself from collapsing from laughter.

* * *

**Sky's Second Meeting | G27**

* * *

When a man with blond hair and orange eyes stepped into the café, Tsuna immediately turned around and walked into the employee room. Whatever it was, his co-worker could do it.

His manager was sitting at the table of the employee room and glanced up at Tsuna when he walked in. They stared at Tsuna for a while before placing their coffee on the table and walking out of the employee room. A few seconds later, they re-entered the room and sat in front of Tsuna.

"You need to face your fears," they said seriously. Tsuna shook his head and they frowned contemplatively.

"What are you doing, Tsuna? Why do you run? Face forward, cast off your fear, and you will grow," they told him solemnly. There was a moment of silence before Tsuna nodded, scared but determined, and walked out of the employee room. The manager was right; he shouldn't run away from his fears instead of facing them head on.

Inside the employee room, the manager took a sip of their coffee and gave a contented sigh. "I knew memorising inspirational anime speeches would eventually pay off," they mused to themselves. "Hopefully we can get another regular."

* * *

There was a red haired man with a strange tattoo on his face standing beside the blond one. Both of them had just finished ordering their drinks and Tsuna's co-worker was about to go make them. Tsuna bravely stepped forth and offered to make the drinks. Giving him an amused smile, his co-worker waved him towards the two customers. Taking a deep breath, Tsuna slowly turned around to face the two customers. The blond haired man was gaping and the red haired man looked terribly amused. Tsuna almost ran away again but he caught sight of Fran, who was sitting at the corner of the café enjoying his mocha, enthusiastically waving the restraining order form in his hand, and smiled slightly. With new found confidence, he looked back at the two customers and forced out a smile.

"Hello, my name is Tsuna. I didn't quite catch your name before…?" Tsuna tilted his head to the side. The blond blushed and looked away, prompting the red head to roll his eyes.

"I'm G. and this idiot here is Giotto. You must be the poor guy he violated." Tsuna nodded, blushing slightly. Must he put it that way?

"Yeah, kind of," Tsuna said noncommittally. "Is he alright? I reacted rather violently back then." 'Rather violently' was an understatement. Tsuna had basically kneed the blond in the groin and uppercutted him before running away in mortification.

G. snickered at his question and elbowed Giotto. Giotto quickly shook his head and looked back at Tsuna. "Yes, I am alright. I apologise for my misconduct the other day, it was inappropriate of me," he said with utmost formality. Tsuna nodded, accepting the apology. He wasn't going to talk about the days Giotto spent standing near the doors of the café and just staring at him. As far as he was concerned, such a thing did not happen.

Tsuna's co-worker came back with the drinks and set them on the table. They took it with a 'thanks' and G. slowly herded Giotto towards the door. The blond seemed reluctant to leave, and kept turning back to steal glances at Tsuna until G. whacked him on the head. Once they were out of sight, Fran slowly made his way to the counter and set the restraining order on in front of Tsuna once again. Tsuna stared at it for a long while, contemplative, before he sighed and shook his head. There wasn't any actual reason to file an order.

Yet.

* * *

**Author's note**

Yo, who should I introduce next chapter.

DID ANYONE KNOW THAT REBORN'S NAME IS RENATO SINCLAIR?! AM I ONE OF THE ONLY FEW PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T KNOW?

Amano Akira-sensei revealed it. It is canon.

I've realised that this is also somewhat of a coffee shop/barista au. Huh.

The co-worker and manager won't play much of a big role in the later chapters, I promise. So you don't have any reason to worry.

Many thanks to Hweianime, without whom, I wouldn't even be writing Repercussions of a Wish anymore.

Thanks to Alicia Testarossa too, for giving me the idea of having someone witness the 'Tsuna Effect' from a third person POV.

'_A name is a lie that keeps you from thinking that you can be more than one person._' is from Night Vale's twitter

**Reviews**

_guest 5/11_ Nope, the adopted human girl isn't the manager! Good guess, though!

_hikaru_ No, actually, I can't. Aren't curling irons super hot? Won't he get burnt? And Giotto, charming? I doubt so. To quote G. from the inheritance arc (which I just watched) "I got dragged into many weird things because of you." I think it tells a lot about Giotto's character. (Personally I think he's the type that leads everyone around him into thinking that he's cool but he is _not_)

_Blaze_ Thank you! About my Harry Potter one… I actually haven't touched it since two-three years ago, and I've changed very much since then, so I'm not too sure how to write it anymore. I'll see what I can do, though!


	11. Untitled

_For Hweianime_

* * *

**Collapsed ****| V27 (?)  
**

Basic Microbiology was horrible and Tsuna often wondered why it was required for him to take it. He knew, in theory, that Basic Microbiology was actually essential for his course but Tsuna hated it so much that he still asked the question anyway. He was _terrible_ at science and, _of course_, that course was worth five whole credit units. The universe was really out to get them. Thankfully, his lecturer allowed the students access into the science labs of the school. Tsuna wondered why that was the case; there was probably a lot of safety protocols being broken with this decision and even though the students were technically adults, Tsuna still felt like a little child.

That aside, he was pretty happy at the moment. He had been cooped up in the lab for three hours straight, trying – and succeeding, thank_ god_ – to make sense of his textbook and now he was _free_. And he could finally try that soup recipe his manager gave him. That person might be weird, but they _did_ make most of the food that the café served, so Tsuna wouldn't protest so much at them sharing their recipes with him.

A loud 'thump' made Tsuna jump and he traced the noise to one of the labs. The lights were switched on and the door was closed, signifying that it was in use. Tsuna's rational mind told him to ignore the noise. This school was full of weirdoes, who knew what could be lying behind that door? However, the compassionate side of him – a side he was beginning to resent a little – told him that it wasn't a good thing to ignore people who could possibly be in need. The rational and compassionate part of him argued for about three minutes before Tsuna sighed and took out a coin. If he waited for the argument to end, he'd end up old and grey. Hence, he'd be doing the deciding himself. Heads, he'd check it out; tails, he'd leave. He flipped the coin and tried to catch it. However, it fell to the ground and rolled under the door.

Well, that was as good as a heads, Tsuna decided. The compassionate part of him cheered and shoved the rational part into a synapse cleft. Tsuna spared a moment of worry about his the state of his mind and his really violent imagination before shrugging it off. It was probably due to Reborn's influence.

Bracing himself for whatever horror that might be waiting for him on the other side of the door, Tsuna slowly opened it and saw…

A man with green hair passed out on the floor. Tsuna couldn't help but feel a bit cheated. All that build-up lead to this? Wasn't it a little anti-climactic?

Tsuna was quiet as he looked at the man on the floor. His glasses were digging uncomfortably into his face, considering his nearly face-down position on the floor, and the strange twist his limbs were in did not look very comfortable. Again, the rational and compassionate part were fighting with one another and _again_, compassionate won. With a roll of his eyes, Tsuna bent down to pull the man to his feet.

He needed a new test-tasting guinea pig, anyway.

* * *

When Verde woke up, he immediately knew that he was most certainly not in a science lab. For one, the thing he was resting on was much too soft. Secondly, the room held a light scent of tomato soup, which was very different from the sterile smell of alcohol and chemicals in the labs. Verde opened his eyes to see a familiar ceiling and decided that he was in one of the rooms in the student dorms. He probably had collapsed in one of the science labs, as he was prone to doing, and someone must have brought him back to their dorm. He was in the midst of getting out of the bed when the door to the room he was in opened and a boy with brown hair popped his head in.

"Ah, you're awake!" he exclaimed in slightly accented English. Judging by his accent, his first language was probably Japanese. "I found you in one of the science labs so I brought you here. I hope you don't mind that much. Your notes are on the table next to the bed. If you're feeling better, you can come outside!" The boy gave a bright smile before ducking back out. Verde took a moment to congratulate himself on his correct theory. He soon heard a stream of agitated sounding Japanese words, and congratulated himself again.

Deciding that it was probably time he should go back to his experiments, Verde picked up the stack of papers on the table and walked out of the room. Immediately, the heavenly scent of cooking food hit him full force and his stomach chose this opportune time to remind him that he hadn't eaten in two days. Verde pushed up his glasses and did his best to ignore it. He needed to finish his thesis papers so that he could get funding for his research as soon as possible. He had no time for food.

The boy came out of the kitchen to see him frozen mid-step in the living room. Another smile lit up his face as he approached Verde. For some reason, Verde's flight-or-fight instincts started to act up.

"Ah, you're up! Say, have you eaten yet?" he asked. Verde shook his head. The boy frowned. "When was the last time you've eaten?"

"Two days ago." The words came out of Verde's mouth without his conscious input. He seemed a bit surprised at his actions. There was something about this boy that made him want to tell the truth. Perhaps he could set this observation aside as a lead in to a possible personal project when he was free.

The boy's eyes widened before they flashed orange for a split second. Verde filed that observation away as well. It was most definitely not a trick of the light; the boy did not move his head and there wasn't a sudden change in the light source. All variables in the room stayed where they were, so there was no way the orange flash could have been a trick of the light. But then, what could it be?

"–for dinner." Deep in thought, Verde didn't notice that the boy had been speaking and only caught the last part of the sentence. Verde blinked and tried to clarify what the boy meant, but he didn't get the chance for he was immediately swept up in a whirlwind of confusion and before he knew it, he was seated at the table and the boy was setting food onto said table.

"Um," Verde started. The boy's gaze immediately focused on him and he _sparkled_. Verde had to rub his eyes to find out if it was a hallucination. It wasn't.

"Go on, then! Eat whatever you want! Oh, I'm Tsuna by the way. It's nice to meet you."

Verde quickly recovered. "Is this a habit of yours?" he asked. "Feeding random people you see." Tsuna hummed as he thought about the question. Then, he shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess. I like to make food for other people, because my mother told me that food makes people happy; and I _do_ want other people to be happy. Like you, Verde!" Tsuna had sat himself on the other side of the table and rested his chin in his hands as he focused on Verde with an alarming intensity. Verde felt his cheeks heating up and frowned slightly. How strange, now that he was aware of it, his bodily functions were not acting normally. There was a slight increase in heart rate, along with increased blood flow in the head area, specifically the face. This was slightly alarming, he must look into this strange phenomenon.

The door suddenly opened and both parties immediately turned to see a familiar black-clad man step into the room. Reborn stopped and narrowed his eyes once he had caught sight of Verde.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked venomously. Verde adjusted his glasses and gestured towards Tsuna.

"He invited me in," Verde replied flatly. "Unlike you, I'm not the type to just barge into people's homes without permission."

Tsuna looked between the both of them. Sensing the tense atmosphere in the room, he began to sweat nervously. "Do you know each other?" he asked fretfully. Reborn's obsidian eyes flickered to him for a second before they went back to Verde and he sneered.

"Unfortunately," he said. Tsuna shuddered at his dark tone. The two of them looked seconds away from engaging in a fight in the middle of the dining room. Quickly checking the amount of food he had made, Tsuna mustered up his courage to prevent whatever violent confrontation that might happen.

"Um," he started. It was at that moment that Verde stood up and gathered his papers.

"It's alright, Tsuna. I'll be taking my leave now." Tsuna's eyes widened and orange bled into them.

"No! You haven't ate in two _freakin'_ days and that's plain unhealthy! You sit right back down and eat your food!" he demanded. Verde immediately went back to his seat, looking very confused as to why his body had obeyed Tsuna's commands. Tsuna then turned to Reborn. "You'll be eating with us too." His tone left no room for negotiation and before he knew it, Reborn had found himself sitting at the table as well as Tsuna placed food in front of him. Sullenly, Verde and Reborn dug into their food. A heavy silence settled in the room and Tsuna smiled. It was a rather intimidating smile.

"Thank you. Now if you need me, I'll be in the kitchen." When he left the room, Reborn reluctantly looked at Verde.

"No fighting in Tsuna's dorm," he offered. Verde nodded, accepting the temporary truce.

"No fighting in Tsuna's dorm."

* * *

**Second meeting | 6927**

At eleven in the night, Tsuna heard a knocking sound. A little wary, he walked over to the door and looked through the peephole. There was no one there. A bit more terrified now, he hesitantly opened the door and looked down the hallways. Absolutely no one _anywhere_. Tsuna felt like crying. The rapping noise came again, making Tsuna jump and let out a little whimper. Now that he was more aware of it, it was less of a knock on wood and more of a knock on glass.

_I swear to god if it's coming from my mirror…_

He really should stop listening to Hayato talk about the paranormal.

Incredibly on-edge and high-strung, Tsuna walked back into his apartment to see that his window was open and there was an unfamiliar silhouette in his living room. Immediately grabbing the closest thing nearby, which was one of his shoes, Tsuna hurled it with all his might at the silhouette. The stars were probably in his favor as his shoe hit the stranger in the head and the stranger fell to the ground, unmoving. Trembling with adrenaline, Tsuna fumbled with the light switch and managed to flick it on to see a boy with indigo colored hair passed out on the ground.

Whoops.

* * *

When the boy opened his eyes, Tsuna immediately started babbling apologies.

"I'm so sorry I thought you were a demon that somehow got into my room so I threw my shoe at you I didn't mean to, honest!" He forcibly closed his mouth when the boy groaned and held his head in his hands. Tsuna quickly passed him an aspirin and a glass of water, which the boy quickly downed. Unique blue and red eyes opened and fixed onto Tsuna. Tsuna blinked and stiffened up a little.

"_Coniglietto?_" the boy asked incredulously. Tsuna's eyes narrowed.

"Have we met before?" he asked. The boy's incredulous quickly faded away from his face and a confident smirk easily took its place.

"Oya, you've forgotten me already? I'm hurt," he said dramatically, placing a hand over his chest. Tsuna stared at him blankly, trying to remember where he had heard this dangerous honey-velvet voice before. Finally, a faded memory flashed through his mind.

"Oh!" Tsuna exclaimed. "You're that guy who spoke that weird language that day!" Said guy looked a little offended.

"That was Italian," he corrected. Tsuna nodded.

"Yeah. The weird language. By the way, I'm Tsunayoshi Sawada, but you can call me Tsuna. What's your name?" he smiled cheerfully, holding out his hand for a handshake. The boy looked at Tsuna's outstretched hand contemplatively, before slipping his hand into Tsuna's grasp. Unexpectedly, he didn't shake Tsuna's hand but brought it up to his lips to press a chaste kiss to it.

"Well, Tsunayoshi," he drew out Tsuna's name as if he was tasting it on his tongue. "It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Mukuro Rokudo."

Two seconds of total silence followed as Tsuna slowly processed Mukuro's words and actions. Then he shrieked and tore his hand away with so much force that he fell onto his back. Mukuro chuckled at Tsuna's actions and pushed himself off the couch to extend a hand to Tsuna. Blushing madly, Tsuna took Mukuro's hand and tried to stand up. Once again, Mukuro did the unexpected and pulled Tsuna close to him. They were basically pressed up against one another and this did not help the redness on Tsuna's face. Mukuro placed a finger under Tsuna's chin and tilted his face up.

"M-Mukuro-san!" Tsuna stuttered out, slipping back Japanese. "P-please…" Mukuro raised an eyebrow.

"Oya, please what, Tsunayoshi-kun?" he asked, easily transitioning into Japanese as well. The door to Tsuna's dorm room suddenly slammed open violently and—

"_I will bite you to death, you pineapple herbivore!"_

Mukuro drew away, shooting a displeased look at the door. "It appears that I must take my leave, Tsunayoshi. I'll see you soon," he smirked, running a thumb over Tsuna's bottom lip. Tsuna jerked in surprise and sunk to his knees. With a satisfied smirked, Mukuro walked over to the window and jumped out of it. Tsuna's heart was pounding, and he wanted to crawl into a hole and die. There was a blur of black and white, along with the glint of light against steel, and Tsuna saw Hibari dash across the room and jump out of the window after Mukuro.

Tsuna waited until his heart rate was back to normal before he stood up. If he was lucky, he probably won't be seeing Mukuro ever again.

Two days later, he realised that his luck was practically nonexistent.

* * *

**Author's note**

I don't know a thing about Verde.

**Reviews**

_hikaru – _Hmm, I haven't really! I seem to be unable to see him as a romantic interest for Tsuna tbh. It's just… a bit foreign to me. I'll see if I can write Ryohei in!

_Prince_ – It may come off as a comedic act but apparently, it didn't fool you. Fran's a Mist, after all…


	12. Nameless Seven Cafe

_Hweianime and I were discussing about Bermuda providing Night Flames which helps the Vindice in controlling their hate and then… _

"Does this mean that Bermuda is the world's most aggressive psychologist?"

_This is the product._

* * *

**Counsel**

"Fluffy human," the manager greeted Tsuna as he walked out of the employee's room café to start his shift. "Could you help make a delivery for me? Thanks." They started to pack the drinks his co-worker was making into a bag.

"We do deliveries?" Tsuna asked. This was new to him.

"If they pay enough," was the manager's simple reply. Tsuna guessed that it was a good enough reason.

"Where do I need to go?" Tsuna asked.

"The Student Care Centre. You know where that is?" When Tsuna nodded, the manager smiled and made a shooing motion with their hands. "Go on now. Oh, and the guy who ordered to coffee is Bermuda." Tsuna nodded again in acknowledgement before he was out of the door.

* * *

The Student Care Centre was a large, rather intimidating, building from the outside. The inside, however, was rather… unique. Tsuna couldn't quite decide what sort of vibe the décor was giving. There was a Victorian feel to the décor but also a forcibly cheerful shine due to the bright colours of, well, everything.

Tsuna wasn't even going to mention the sock puppets and stuffed toys lying about.

Hesitantly, he approached the receptionist. They were wearing a mask with a smiley face on in. In Tsuna's opinion, it was rather unnerving.

Smiling awkwardly, he lifted up the bag of coffee he had in his hands. The receptionist nodded and said something in a foreign language into the microphone on their desk. A few minutes passed and a group of people with that same, unsettling, mask made their way to the main hall and towards Tsuna. It was like something out of a horror movie. Tsuna had to keep himself from just dropping the bag and making a desperate dash to the door.

"U-um, Bermuda?" Tsuna stuttered out. His voice was small and uncertain. A figure stepped out of the group, and Tsuna noted that he was wearing a top hat.

Ah well, he's seen weirder.

Tsuna handed the bag over to Bermuda, who accepted it with a grateful nod.

"Thank you…" Bermuda paused, waiting for a name.

"Tsuna."

"Tsuna, you say?" Tsuna got the feeling that Bermuda was scrutinising him behind the mask. And here he thought that the situation wouldn't get any creepier.

"Yeah." He fidgeted uncomfortably.

"We've heard good things about you. You've been helpful to our charges. Is it alright if you stop by every once in a while? We believe that you will be able to provide us with invaluable help." All the masked people were staring at him. Tsuna's mind blanked out.

"Okay," was what slipped past his mouth. Before he knew it, he was giving his number and free timeslots to Bermuda, who gave him a pamphlet in return. When Tsuna came back to his senses, he was standing outside the Student Care Centre building, holding a pamphlet with the words 'Vendicare: Student care' on the front page. Curious, Tsuna pulled out his phone to check what 'Vendicare' meant.

…Avenge.

Tsuna wondered just _what_ had he gotten into this time.

* * *

**Instagram**

"Hey Tsuna!" the co-worker called out all of a sudden, making Tsuna jump in surprise. Water splashed out of the cup in his hands, wetting his face and the apron he was wearing. Pressing down the guilt she felt, the co-worker quickly snapped a picture of Tsuna's semi-drenched self.

"W-What is it? What do you need?" Tsuna wiped his face with the back of his sleeve, his actions making him look like a cute little kitten. The co-worker snapped another photo.

"Nothin'!" she grinned, unabashed. "Just wanted to take a photo of ya. I took two, by the way."

"Um, okay?" Tsuna never really understood why the co-worker liked taking pictures of him so much. He knew she posted it on the café's Instagram, but who would want to see photos of a clumsy barista? Shaking off his thoughts, he places the glass of water down on a nearby table and went off to switch his apron with a clean one. He had a feeling that it would be best for him if he just remained ignorant. Besides, he knew that they would always honour his request if he didn't want his photo to be taken.

Meanwhile, the co-worker was wondering what sort of caption she should put for the photos. What would their customers want to read? Whatever, she would just tag the pictures with the normal #27effect tag and be done with it. Her witty captions could be saved for the other photos. Like the #D27 and #G27 ones; man those were some of the most awkward and funniest photos she had ever taken in her life.

* * *

**Misunderstanding**

Today hadn't really been the best of days for Tsuna, but he could cope. He didn't quite understand why everyone else didn't think so, though.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" the customer squeaked. Tsuna shook his head, trying to give a comforting smile.

"It's not your fault."

"Tsuna." It was his co-worker. Tsuna turned back to acknowledge her but before he could say anything, the co-worker started to gently herd him to the employee room. "I'll take over. Go and wash your face."

"Okay." He rubbed at his eye again, trying to make it better, but things only got worse. The co-worker looked a little uncomfortable with the whole situation, and patted him on the head. He supposed that she was trying to be comforting.

He quickly moved to the toilet before things could get any more awkward.

* * *

Just what had happened? Well…

"I would like a Raspberry Macaron Frappuccino," the customer said. Tsuna paused to stare at him for a while.

"Sorry?" Maybe he had misheard the order.

"A Raspberry Macaron Frappuccino," the customer repeated, impatience colouring his tone. Tsuna looked back at the menu behind him. Nope, no Raspberry Mararon Frappuccino. What even was that? Was he supposed to blend macarons with ice and coffee? That couldn't possibly taste nice.

"I'm sorry, but that item doesn't exist on the menu." The customer scowled at that.

"It does exist!" he insisted stubbornly. "My roommate ordered it just a few days ago! It's on your secret menu!"

There was a secret menu? This was the first time Tsuna was hearing about it.

"Um, do you know the ingredients needed to make it? If you do, I can prepare it for you."

"Why would _I_ know how to make it? It's _your_ secret menu!"

It was only eleven in the morning and Tsuna was already done for the day.

"I apologise but unless you know the recipe, I am unable to make this drink for you."

"Excuse me? This is horrible customer service, I am going to…" Tsuna zoned out. Perhaps his co-worker would know how to make this "Raspberry Macaron Frappuccino". Maybe it was just a Vanilla Frappuccino with raspberry syrup. Maybe there were actual macarons involved. Tsuna wouldn't know.

Tsuna blinked and an irritating pain started in his right eye. He blinked again, and it got worse. Shit, something had fallen into his eye. Surreptitiously, Tsuna brought a hand up to rub at his eye. Two blinks later, a tear rolled down his right cheek. Horrified, he rubbed at his eye again but more tears appeared. This was bad. Crying was something no one in customer service should do! No one would show you pity if you cried, they would just view it as a weakness and use it against you!

"Tsuna!" The voice was familiar and Tsuna looked up to see Reborn. Reborn's gaze zeroed in on the tears rolling down Tsuna's cheek and immediately turned to the customer, glaring at him. "What did you do?" he snarled.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" the customer squeaked.

And that brings us back to the present moment. Tsuna cupped his hand under the tap to contain the water and wash his eye. Finally, the irritating pain was gone. Using a piece of toilet paper, he dabbed at his eye in order to dry it.

Someone knocked on the door. "Tsuna, are you alright?" the manager asked. It took a while for Tsuna to respond as it was extremely odd to have them refer to him as 'Tsuna' instead of 'fluffy human'.

"Yes I am. I'm coming out now." He opened the door to meet his manager. They stared at his face for a while before a look of relief flashed through their eyes.

"You had something in your eye, didn't you?" they asked. Tsuna nodded, a little confused.

"Yeah. What else could it be?"

The manager looked at him for a while. "Well, we thought that you were crying because you were distressed," they spoke slowly. Tsuna gave them a weird look.

"I won't cry just because of a customer." He was a bit insulted that they would think that. The manager looked a bit sheepish.

"We know thought. It's just that… when we saw your tears, common sense went out of the window. We… care about you, you know?" The manager shifted, looking rather out of place. "Well, please go back to the counter. It's going to be the lunch hour soon, and we need all the help we can get."

Tsuna gave the manager a smile. "Alright!" he said cheerfully and walked out of the employee area. The manager watched him go. Once he was out of sight they sighed.

"The sky's charisma, huh?" They chuckled dryly. "Dammit, Kawahira. We sealed the humans' flames off for a reason. Why did you unseal Tsuna's…?"

* * *

**Author's note**

No romance in this chapter sorry. I'm setting up the scene with 'Counsel' and 'Instagram'. Next chapter might have maid café, but I'm still not sure about it.

You shouldn't cry in customer service. It just makes the horrible customers think they can take more advantage of you. Customer service is not for the faint of heart.

Haha, the Vindice. I know even less about them so I'm winging it.

Now that the cat is out of the bag about the manager's identity, I would like to say that they wanted to name the cafe 'Kawahira I freakin' hate you and the stick you have up your arse i love humans okay'

**Review**

_Guest 26/2_ Yamamoto will get a scene…. eventually. I think.

_Guest 11/2_ yeah it does! Oh dear, a typo.

_Tsuki_ It was too late at night to bother about those sort of things. I think Lambo would be TYL version, if nothing else comes up.

_anonymouse _I know it's a hickey, but vampire kiss is the fancy word for a hickey where you bite people. It's probably really painful.

_Broken Alice_ I'm not sure about Bel because I don't really know his characterisation all that well. I'll try my best a research!


	13. Pets and their Owners

_Should I continue listing the pairings at the title or?_

* * *

**List of pets in Trinisette University**

* * *

**1\. Octopus **

There were many dangerous people in the world. Tsuna had a feeling that most of them were in Trinisette University. One of them was known as Rokudo Mukuro.

"Tsunayoshi! Where are you?" Mukuro sang. Tsuna didn't quite know why Mukuro was so hung up on having Tsuna join the drama club and act as a main character in a play. Tsuna hated attention and he hated acting, so his answer was obvious.

If only Mukuro would leave the matter alone.

"You have the perfect appearance for the role! Just this once?"

Tsuna ignored the words, trying to find a way to escape from Mukuro's sphere of influence.

"Kufufu, you can run but I'll get you in the end. Your body will be mine."

Tsuna tried to bite back his whimper as he scoured the area for a place to hide. A large, empty garbage can caught his eye and he hesitated.

"You can't hide forever…"

Tsuna was free for the rest of the day so he could go straight home and clean himself up after this. Saving his skin was more important. Quietly, he quickly stepped into the garbage can and placed the lid back on. A few beats passed and he heard footsteps pass by. He breathed a sigh of relief when they didn't come back. It appeared that he had been successful in evading Mukuro once again.

The garbage can lid slowly slid off and fell to the floor with a seemingly deafening clatter. Tsuna curled up into a tight ball and prayed to every god he had ever heard of.

Something damp and soft plopped down onto him and he stiffened. Slippery, squishy things wrap around him and Tsuna struggled to get out of the tight grasp, panicking and trying to see just what this disgusting wet thing was and… wait, were these _tentacles?!_

"HIIIEEEE!"

* * *

"You owe me one, Tsuna," Reborn said as he pried the octopus off. Tsuna was eternally grateful. He would make coffee every morning for Reborn for a week.

Probably.

"Thanks, Reborn." Tsuna tried to smile. His shirt was soaked, his skin was bruised, and he was cold. Getting caught by Mukuro would have been better than getting constricted by an octopus. Were they even able to survive out of water? Weren't they supposed to be deep sea creatures?

A warm weight settled on Tsuna's shoulders. Reborn had taken off his jacket to drape it over Tsuna's shoulders, hiding his soaked self from the cold world.

Tsuna was going to make Reborn coffee for the rest of his _life_.

Tightly, almost violently, gripping the octopus with one hand, Reborn used his other hand to call up someone.

"Stupid lackey," he said into the phone. "I've found your octopus. Hurry here before I decide that I'm in the mood for takoyaki."

* * *

"I'm sorry," Reborn's 'lackey' apologised. His voice was muted and his head bowed, posture submissive. It was obvious that he was afraid of Reborn. Tsuna could relate.

"It's… alright," Tsuna said after letting Skull squirm for a while. Skull's head immediately snapped up.

"Really?" he asked hopefully. Tsuna opened his mouth to speak but Reborn cut in.

"Of course not," Reborn said brusquely. "You'll have to make it up to Tsuna." Skull immediately deflated at Reborn's words and Tsuna had look away so no one would see him try to suppress his smile.

"I'm fine, really. Just don't do it again and please keep a closer eye on your octopus…" _or I'll kidnap it and make takoyaki. Stupid octopus, sleep with one eye open tonight. I'm coming for you._

Skull perked up again and Tsuna looked at him with amusement. He was like an inflatable toy. Clutching both of Tsuna's hands in his own, Skull smiled at him. "Thank you so much! You're so nice! I like you much better than that horrible Reborn!"

"Oh really?" Skull shuddered. The back of his shirt was caught in Reborn's grip and Tsuna could almost swear that Skull was sobbing as Reborn pulled him away, arms stretched out towards him in desperation. Tsuna pretended that he didn't see it.

He wasn't suicidal enough to confront Reborn, after all.

* * *

**2\. Predator Bird**

As Tsuna was on the balcony drying his clothes he felt a weight settle down on his hair. Warily, he brought his hand up to feel a warm feathery thing on top of his head. He paused and turned to the glass door of the balcony to see his reflection.

There was a bird on his head. A white bird with black on the tips of his feathers and a yellow beak. It looked particularly nasty and Tsuna didn't feel secure with having it on his head or having his hand so close to it. He tried to bring his hand down but quickly stopped when the bird turned its intimidating gaze onto it. He let his hand hover – rather uncomfortably – near the top of his head and kept his eyes on the bird, ready to jerk his hand away at any time.

Slowly, the bird hopped towards his hand (making Tsuna wince because those claws were really _sharp_) and butted its head against said hand. Tsuna stared at it incredulously. Did it… Did it want him to pet it?

The bird bumped its head against Tsuna's hand again, but harder this time, and Tsuna got the message. He stroked the hawk's head, careful not to ruffle any of the feathers. It seemed content and Tsuna let his hand drop to the side. The hawk seemed to settle down in his hair and Tsuna realised, with a sinking feeling in his stomach, that it was there to stay.

* * *

Tsuna went to classes with the hawk on his head. It said a lot about the school when his new accessory didn't receive any questions, people just accepting it at face value. Tsuna was thankful that the hawk was well-behaved and didn't bother him during lessons. It probably belonged to someone in this school, and that someone usually took the hawk to classes, Tsuna theorised.

No one asked him about the bird and hence he didn't tell anyone. He had a shift after class, so maybe his manager and his co-worker would be able to get it off.

* * *

"That's a cute bird ya got there," the co-worker commented. "Who does it belong to?"

"I don't know," Tsuna replied, tying his apron on carefully, trying not to touch the bird. He succeeded, but only barely. "It just sat on my head this morning and it's been there ever since. Could you help me get it off?"

As if the hawk understood Tsuna's words, it turned to face his co-worker and stared, as if daring her to even take a step towards Tsuna. The co-worker gazed right back at the hawk, a small smile spreading across her face.

"It looks like it'll kill me if I try. So my answer is no, sorry, I can't help you," she told Tsuna. He sighed.

"I thought so."

"Look on the bright side, Tsuna!" she chirped. "The hawk isn't as weird as Fran's hat!"

* * *

Tsuna habitually glanced at the clock. He had already been working for around an hour, so Reborn should be dropping by soon. Sure enough, just as he had that thought, he could see Reborn's familiar black-clad self walking towards the café. Behind him was a blond man with a camo headband and jacket. He was probably Reborn's friend, judging from the way he was yelling at Reborn and the fact that Reborn hadn't murdered him yet.

"Good afternoon Tsuna…" Reborn greeted and then he trailed off, staring at the bird on Tsuna's head. The other man noisily entered the shop behind him, roughly pushing open the glass doors to the café.

"I've already told you, Reborn, I don't have time for coffee, kora! I need to find Falco…" He, too, stared. Tsuna kept the polite smile on his face as he waved at them.

"Good afternoon, Reborn. Would you like the usual?"

"That's Falco, kora! Why do you have him with you?" the blond marched to the counter and pointed at Tsuna accusingly. Tsuna shrugged.

"Ask him yourself. Also, please take him back? His claws are rather uncomfortable," Tsuna replied mildly. Everyone in the café was looking at the commotion the blond man and he was making, and he was feeling a bit uncomfortable. The blond nodded at his words and pointedly looked up at Falco. Or rather, he just looked straight as Tsuna was short enough that Falco, resting on his head, was around the same height as the man.

"Falco, come here," he said as he extended his arm so that the bird could land on it. The hawk – Falco – didn't budge from his spot on Tsuna's hair. The man frowned. "Falco," he said again, a bit more sternly this time. The hawk squawked defiantly from the top of Tsuna's head and the man seemed very surprised. Slowly, his eyes slid back down to Tsuna. This time, his expression was less hostile and more interested.

"Falco doesn't like many people, kora," he said. "What's your name?"

"I'm Tsuna. You are?"

"I'm Colonello, kora. It's nice to meet you."

"That's nice, Colonello. May I take your order?" Tsuna asked in a deadpan. Colonello blinked and looked around, having just remembered that he was in a coffee shop and there was a small line behind him. Reborn was also glaring at him, black eyes filled with irritation. He laughed amusedly.

"I would like an iced Americano, kora."

"Alright, that will be one-twenty please. Please wait over there for your coffee," Tsuna said automatically, reciting those words from his memory. Instead of just giving Tsuna the money, Colonello's hand shot out to wrap around Tsuna's wrist and his other hand scribbled a string of numbers onto it with a pen he had magically procured from somewhere.

"Falco doesn't usually like other people, kora. That means you're special." He capped the pen and placed the exact amount of cash Tsuna asked for in Tsuna's still outstretched hand.

"One iced Americano?" his co-worker called out and Colonello took the cup. Falco left Tsuna's head and landed on Colonello's shoulder just as the man was about to leave the café.

"Call me!"

With those parting words, Colonello was gone.

"…" Tsuna didn't know how to tell him that Falco probably liked him because his hair was a literal bird's nest.

* * *

**3\. Predator's Bird**

Tsuna should probably get his hair cut. Then again, he would be a _lot_ shorter without his hair. Ten centimetres shorter, in fact.

Choices, choices.

He passed by a window and took the chance to check his reflection for any changes. The small yellow ball of feathers was still in his hair, looking extremely pleased with itself. Continuing his walk to the grocery store on campus, he grumbled to himself. What was it with birds and his hair?

Somehow meeting Tsuna's eyes in the mirror, the bird puffed up in pride and opened its mouth to say…

"Herbivore, herbivore!"

When Tsuna had first hear it, he had been very confused by the bird's ability to speak Japanese. Wasn't it only parrots who could do that? Nonetheless, the bird existed and he just had to deal with the fact that birds liked to nest in his hair. He hoped that there wouldn't be any more.

"Herbivore, herbivore! I'll bite you to death!"

"…"

Tsuna knew who the bird belonged to now.

* * *

"Little animal," Hibari greeted.

"Hibari-san, this belongs to you, right?" Tsuna asked, gesturing to the bird on his head. Hibari inclined his head forward slightly in a small nod, and Tsuna made a noise of frustration. "Then could you please take it away?"

Hibari didn't immediately answer Tsuna's question, drinking calmly from a cup of tea on his table. Tsuna was about to slap Hibari in the face with his shoe again when Hibari spoke.

"Little animal, both parents have to take care of a child," he said matter-of-factly, giving Tsuna a disappointed look. "You should know that."

"That bird belongs to _you_!" Tsuna all but shrieked. Hibari nodded in agreement.

"I have taught it discipline and self-regulation. It is your turn to teach it to be gentle and forgiving."

_Because you can't teach it that?_ was what Tsuna wanted to say. "Not now," Tsuna said instead. "I'm still studying."

"So you wish to be able to fully devote your time to a child… you'll be a good parent, little animal," Hibari said. "I shall respect your wishes. Hibird." The bird chirped and went over to Hibari. Tsuna narrowed his eyes. 'Hibird'? Was that a mix between 'Hibari' and 'bird'?

…well, it wasn't his business anyway. Although, he wondered why Hibari spoke like Tsuna was the other parent of the bird and, by extension, Hibari's spouse.

* * *

**4\. Lal's frankly alarming centipede that literally everyone but she is afraid of**

It was a bright and beautiful morning. Tsuna's early class had been cancelled because the teacher was down with the flu, allowing him to sleep in for once in his busy university life. Alright, he might have been exaggerating a little but the idea was still there. He even had the time to do the laundry!

Humming a random tune, he opened the balcony door in order to put his drying rack outside and paused. Outside, sprawled all over his balcony floor and basking in the sun, was a giant, nearly two metre long, dark purple… thing with many legs and two large crimson eyes. Upon opening the door, those eyes had been fixed on him, making every single cell in Tsuna's body freeze up. Slowly, Tsuna closed the door once again and made sure to lock the door. He then drew the curtains shut for good measure.

"I'm moving."

* * *

"I didn't know that you could be afraid of things, Tsunayoshi," Byakuran sounded amused. Some time in their friendship, he had stopped calling Tsuna 'Tsuna' and started calling him 'Tsunayoshi' for some odd reason. Tsuna had thought about correcting him, but he eventually decided against it. Byakuran seemed better nowadays, more cheerful and at ease with himself compared to the ball of tension and self-loathing he had been when Tsuna first met him.

"Of course I'm afraid of things! I'm afraid of many things so I avoid them. You've just never seen me faced with things I'm afraid of," Tsuna replied as he gently pushed Byakuran into his house.

"So, what is it that you want me to get rid of?" Byakuran asked. Wordlessly, Tsuna drew back the curtains to reveal the giant centipede lounging around on his balcony. Byakuran smiled his default foxy smile as he turned back to look at Tsuna.

"No way am I going near that."

* * *

"I'm glad to be able to help you, Tsuna!" Gokudera said eagerly. Tsuna nodded.

"I really appreciate it," he said.

"Tsuna…!" Gokudera's eyes were sparkling and Tsuna looked away awkwardly. Just when would Gokudera outgrow this strange hero worship he had for Tsuna?

Both of them entered the apartment to see Byakuran snacking on marshmallows. It was probably his tenth packet, judging from the empty wrappers around him. Gokudera bristled when he saw it. Storming into the apartment, he lifted Byakuran up by the collar of his shirt. Byakuran didn't seem very bothered and merely continued eating the marshmallows.

"How dare you dirty Tsuna's apartment?!" Gokudera yelled. "Tsuna, is this the pest you asked me to exterminate?"

Something flashed through Byakuran's eyes and a lazy smile spread across his face. It didn't reach his eyes. "You must be Gokudera Hayato. I have to admit that it's rather odd to not hear you call Tsunayoshi 'Jyuudaime', but I guess it makes sense in this world. _Is_ there a world in which you aren't obsessed with him, though?" Byakuran paused. "Well, I'm not one to talk. I'm the same, after all."

"What the hell do you—"

Tsuna quickly drew back the curtains to prevent a fight from breaking out in his apartment. "Gokudera," he said. "This is the thing I asked you to help me with."

Gokudera took one look at the giant centipede and dropped Byakuran, his attention diverted by the monstrous creature. In a flash, he was pressed up against the glass, _staring_ at the thing.

"UMA…" he breathed, and Tsuna immediately knew that he would be no help. With a sigh, he took out his phone to call someone else over.

* * *

"It's on the balcony," Tsuna said to Enma. Enma looked around Gokudera, who was busy taking notes, and the colour drained out of his face. He seemed to sway, for a moment, before collapsing on the floor in a dead faint. With a sigh, Tsuna dragged him over to the couch. If he left Enma out on the floor, someone would trip over him.

* * *

Tsuna wondered who he should call next. His co-worker was probably busy and Fran had class. Scrolling through his contact list, a name stood out. He had never called him before, and never really wanted to, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Is this Colonello? It's Tsuna."

* * *

"You know, I've always thought that you'd invite me into your house under different sort of circumstances, kora," Colonello commented.

"Sorry to dash your hopes," Tsuna replied flatly.

"So, what's the thing you need me to help… you… with…" Colonello trailed off when Tsuna revealed the centipede.

"…Oh, so that's where Zamza went. Lal will be happy to have finally found him." At Colonello's words, Tsuna's eyes widened and he hopefully looked up at the blond.

"Can you get rid of it, please?"

Colonello laughed. "Nah, I'm not going anywhere near that hell creature. I'm going to get Lal."

* * *

Lal was a woman with dark blue hair and a painful looking burn on one side of her face. She walked into Tsuna's apartment with impatient steps and an irritated expression on her face. Her face lit up, though, when she saw the centipede on Tsuna's balcony. It was a bit strange, but Tsuna supposed that people could like what they liked.

"Thank you for not killing Zamza," Lal said to Tsuna. Tsuna gave her a small smile.

"No problem, but I don't think I'll be able to do so even if I wanted to," he replied.

"I know. It's just that if you tried to kill Zamza, I'll be the one who has to clean up the mess."

"…"

Lal walked over to the balcony and opened it. The centipede looked up and crawled towards her, and Tsuna was transfixed. It was a revolting kind of fascination, like watching a garbage truck handle bags of rubbish.

"Thanks again," Lal called over her shoulder before she left Tsuna's dorm room. The door closed.

And that's when the screams of fear from his neighbours started.

* * *

**5\. The only normal pet: a dog**

Something was following him. Tsuna was aware of it ever since he had left the café. When there was no one around, he whirled around to confront his stalker only to see…

A brown and white dog. An akita inu, to be specific.

"…" Tsuna _had_ been rather paranoid lately, what with the incident with the centipede. It haunted him even when he was asleep, the many legged creature crawling after him with an insane speed, wanting to catch Tsuna and eat him alive.

Tsuna crouched down and tried not to flinch back when the dog enthusiastically bounded up to him. He hadn't really gotten over his fear of dogs but he could at least tolerate it long enough to find its owner. If he was lucky, the owner's address would be engraved on the dog's tag.

The dog obediently stayed still as Tsuna checked its collar. On one side was _Jirou_ and on the other was a block and room number. That was easy; it was the block next to his! It wouldn't take long for him to return a lost dog, after which he could easily go back to his dorm since the block was next to his. Standing up, he gestured to Jirou to follow him.

"Come on, let's bring you home."

* * *

Out of all the people in the world, Tsuna didn't really expect Jirou's owner to be someone he knew. And it wasn't just that, it was someone he knew from his _childhood_, back when he was still Dame-Tsuna. Well, it wasn't like that person would remember him anyway. Tsuna was just one face out of many.

Tsuna would never forget Yamamoto Takeshi, though.

* * *

_He would never forget the terrifying sight of Yamamoto whose back was facing the sky, who was on the other side of the fence surrounding the roof. _

"_I've broken my arm. There's nothing here for me anymore." _

_He was saying such foolish things, lips drawn up into a plastic smile. Yamamoto's words were piercing and hurtful, designed to keep people away, designed to keep people from saving him, but his eyes were pained and calling out for help. For someone, anyone, to bring him away from the verge of collapse. _

_All the students, his classmates, his teammates, _everybody_, stood behind the fence, an invisible line preventing them from moving forward. An invisible line that prevented them from reaching out to Yamamoto. _

_Tsuna was a cowards. He was clumsy and no-good and he knew that his interference would most likely push Yamamoto off the edge but something in him was screaming, telling him to do _something_. _

_Yamamoto's eyes swept over the student body one last time and they dulled. Instinctively, intuitively, Tsuna knew that Yamamoto has reached the end of his rope. Yamamoto was going to… _

_He couldn't let that happen. _

_His eyes flashed orange as he stepped out of the crowd._

_(Somewhere, a man with white hair and round glasses looked up at the sky… and smiled.) _

* * *

"Haha, thanks for bringing Jirou back!" Takeshi said. Tsuna nodded, smiling.

"It's no problem…" he waited for a name and Takeshi couldn't help but feel a flash of disappointment. So Tsuna hadn't remembered him. That wasn't very surprising, middle school seemed like a whole lifetime ago, after all. Immediately after Takeshi had recklessly tried to end his life, his father withdrew him from Namimori Middle and they moved to a new place. Takeshi was given no time to talk to Tsuna, to thank him for preventing Takeshi from making the stupidest decision of his life.

"Yamamoto Takeshi," Takeshi supplied. "You can call me either Yamamoto or Takeshi."

"Yamamoto then. My name is Tsuna, it's nice to meet you. I'm happy to see that you and Jirou have been reunited. If you'll excuse me, I'll be making a move." Tsuna turned to leave and Takeshi panicked, hand shooting out to grasp Tsuna's wrist. Shocked, Tsuna froze up and turned back to look at Takeshi. Takeshi smiled sheepishly, but did not let go of Tsuna's hand.

"Why not I invite you in for drinks? As gratitude for finding Jirou," Takeshi said the first excuse he could think of. Blinking slowly, Tsuna nodded.

"Okay? I guess…" The brown haired boy surreptitiously tried to twist out of Takeshi's grasp, but the latter only tightened his grip, not wanting to let Tsuna go just yet.

Now that he had finally found Tsuna again, Takeshi was _never_ going to let him go.

* * *

**Author's note**

Once, at the bird park, I was given the chance to feed the birds. I was wearing headphones and, thankfully, long sleeves at that time. The bird keeper handed me a small cup of apple juice and _all the bird_ came to me and landed on me. Everywhere. I was covered in birds and they were on my headphone their sharp claws scratching at my scalp. I have a picture, it was cute but I remember the pain. Also, I felt like a Disney princess.

Lal's box weapon is called Zamza, according to the wiki. Even if it's not true, a name was needed haha.

Next chapter: Bad Dorm Mates, featuring Xanxus, Bel, and Kikyo. Well, if everything goes to plan, anyway.

**Reviews**

_Guest 30/4_ Nope, the manager isn't Sepira! She'll be in this fanfiction, though. And she _does_ know the manager.

I really really cannot remember who I have replied to and who I haven't so if I haven't replied to you, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it. If there's a question you want to ask me, feel free. You really won't be bothering me.


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